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GL[)t  pioixigl),  tl)c  £00  m,  aiib  ll  )t  5tmril. 


Yol.  II.  DECEMBER,  1849.  No.  Yl. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS: 

AGRICULTURAL,  MANUFACTURING,  AND  COMMERCIAL. 

Ik  the  following  letters,  which  cannot  fail  to  command  the  attention  of  all  impartial 
inquirers,  the  reader  will  recognise  the  perspicuous  and  comprehensive  views  of  the  writer 
to  whom  we  have  been  so  frequently  and  so  much  indebted  for  the  able  disquisitions 
that  have  enriched  our  pages,  on  the  same  subject.  It  is  easy  to  prejudge  and  denounce, 
but  quite  another  thing  to  study  and  to  answer,  such  reasoning.  All  we  ask  is  that  the 
farmer  and  planter  enter  on  the  perusal  of  these  letters  with  an  eye  solely  to  the  discovery 
of  the  truth ;  divested  of  all  party  bias,  and  regardless  of  all  party  objects.  In  that  spirit, 
if  we  know  ourselves,  is  this  journal  strictly  conducted. 

Dear  Sir: — I  would  gladly  furnish  replies  to  the  questions  contained  in 
your  circular  of  August  last,  did  I  possess  any  information  on  the  subject 
of  my  own  knowledge,  but  I  do  not.  Although  generally  informed  as  to  the 
working  of  the  ad  valorem  system  established  by  the  tariff  of  1846,  my  know¬ 
ledge  has  been  derived  from  others,  from  whom  you  will  receive  it ;  and  it 
would  therefore  be  useless  to  trespass  upon  your  time  with  any  thing  that  I 
could  say  on  the  subject.  To  the  general  working  of  the  several  revenue  sys¬ 
tems  since  the  peace  of  1815,  I  have,  however,  given  some  attention,  having 
been  very  desirous  to  satisfy  myself  as  to  the  effects  of  the  protective  and  free- 
trade  systems  in  the  remuneration  of  the  labourer ;  and  as  that  is  the  great 
question  now  to  be  settled,  the  results  of  my  inquiries  maybe  useful  to  you. 

Of  the  advantage  of  perfect  freedom  of  trade,  theoretically  considered, 
there  could  be  no  doubt.  The  benefit  derived  from  such  freedom  in  the 
intercourse  of  the  several  States,  was  obvious  to  all ;  and  it  would  certainly 
seem  that  the  same  system  so  extended  as  to  include  the  commerce  with  the 
various  states  and  kingdoms  of  the  world  could  not  fail  to  be  attended  with 
similar  results.  Nevertheless,  every  attempt  at  so  doing  had  failed.  The 
low  duties  on  most  articles  of  merchandise  in  the  period  between  1816  and 
1827,  had  produced  a  state  of  things  which  induced  the  establishment  of 
the  first  really  protective  tariff,  that  of  1828.  The  approach  to  almost  per¬ 
fect  freedom  of  trade  in  1840,  produced  a  political  revolution,  and  a  similar 
but  more  moderate  measure,  led  to  the  revolution  of  last  year.  These  were 
curious  facts,  and  such  as  were  deserving  of  careful  examination. 

It  may  be  assumed  as  an  universal  truth,  that  every  step  made  in  the  right 
direction  will  be  attended  with  results  so  beneficial  as  to  pave  the  way  for 
further  steps  in  the  same  direction,  and  that  every  one  made  in  the  wrong 
direction  will  be  attended  with  disadvantageous  results  tending  to  produce  a 
necessity  for  a  retrograde  movement.  The  compromise  bill,  in  its  final  stages, 
was  a  near  approach  to  perfect  freedom  of  trade, the  highest  duty  being  only  20 
per  cent.  Believing  it  to  be  a  step  in  the  right  direction,  one  of  the  enthusiastic 
advocates  of  perfect  freedom  of  trade  proposed,  soon  after  its  passage,  that, 
commencing  with  1842,  there  should  be  a  further  reduction  of  one  per  cent, 
per  annum  for  twenty  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  all  necessity  for  custom¬ 
houses  would  have  disappeared.  With  the  gradual  operation  of  the  earlier 
stages  of  that  bill  there  was,  however,  produced  a  state  of  depression  so 
extraordinary  as  to  lead  to  a  political  change  before  reaching  its  final  stages, 

Vol.  II.— 42  2  C  325 


326  _  THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


and  the  duties  had  scarcely  touched  the  point  of  20  per  cent,  before  they 
were  raised  to  30,  50,  60,  or  more,  by  the  passage  of  the  tariff  of  1842. 
With  the  election  of  1844,  the  friends  of  free  trade  were  restored  to  power, 
and  two  years  afterwards  was  passed  the  tariff  of  1846 — the  free-trade 
measure — in  which  the  revenue  duty  on  articles  to  be  protected  was  fixed 
at  thiity  per  cent.  Here  was  a  retrograde  movement.  Instead  of  passino- 
from  twenty  downwards,  we  went  up  to  thirty,  and  thus  was  furnished  an 
admission  that  so  near  an  approach  to  free  trade  with  foreign  nations  as  was 
to  be  found  in  twenty  per  cent,  duties  had  not  answered  in  practice.  Since 
then,  it  has  been  admitted,  even  by  the  most  decided  free-trade  advocates, 
that  on  certain  commodities  even  thirty  per  cent,  was  too  low,  and  within 
six  months  from  the  date  of  the  passage  of  the  act  of  1846,  its  author  pro¬ 
posed  to  increase  a  variety  of  articles  to  thirty-five  and  forty  per  cent.* 
Here  was  another  retrograde  movement.  It  is  now  admitted  that  there  are 
other  ai tides  the  duties  on  which  require  to  be  raised,  and  daily  experience 
goes  to  prove  that  such  must  be  the  case,  or  we  must  abandon  some  of  the 
most  important  branches  of  industry.  The  tendency  is,  therefore,  altogether 
backward.  Thirty  per  cent,  duty  is  now  regarded  as  almost  perfect  freedom 
of  trade,  and  instead  of  proposing  a  further  annual  reduction,  each  year  pro¬ 
duces  a  stronger  disposition  for  a  considerable  increase.  In  all  this,  it  is 
impossible  to  avoid  seeing  that  there  is  great  error  somewhere,  and  almost 
equally  impossible  to  avoid  feeling  a  desire  to  understand  why  it  is  that  the 
approaches  towards  freedom  of  trade  with  foreign  nations  have  so  frequently 
failed,  and  why  it  is  that  every  strictly  revenue  tariff  is  hio-her  than  that 
which  preceded  it. 

With  a  view  to  satisfy  myself  in  regard  thereto,  I  have  recently  made  the 
examination,  before  referred  to,  of  our  commercial  policy  during  the  last 
twenty-eight  years,  commencing  with  1821,  being  the  earliest  in  relation  to 
which  detailed  statements  have  been  published.  Before  commencing  to  lay 
before  you  the  results  obtained,  it  may  be  well  to  say  a  few  words  as  to  the 
merits  claimed  by  the  two  parties  for  their  respective  systems. 

The  one  party  insists  that  protection  is  “  a  war  upon  labour  and  capital,” 
and  that  by  compelling  the  application  of  both  to  pursuits  that  would  other¬ 
wise  be  unproductive,  the  amount  of  necessaries,  comforts,  and  conveniences 
of  life  obtainable  by  the  labourer  is  diminished.  The  other  insists  that  by 
protecting  the  labourer  from  competition  with  the  ill-fed  and  worse-clothed 
workmen  of  Europe,  the  reward  of  labour  will  be  increased.  Each  has  thus 
his  theory,  and  each  is  accustomed  to  furnish  facts  to  prove  its  truth,  and 
both  can  do  so  while  limiting  themselves  to  short  periods  of  time,  taking  at 
some  times  years  of  small  crops,  and  at  others  those  of  large  ones,  and  thus 
it  is  that  the  inquirer  after  truth  is  embarrassed.!  No  one  has  yet,  to  my 
knowledge,  evei  undertaken  to  examine  all  the  facts  during  any  long  period 
of  time,  with  a  view  to  show  what  have  been,  under  the  various  systems, 
the  poweis  of  the  labourer  to  command  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life. 
One  oi  other  of  the  systems  is  true,  and  that  is  true  under  which  labour  is 
most  largely  rewarded  :  that  under  which  the  labourer  is  enabled  to  consume 
most  largely  of  food,  fuel,  clothing,  and  all  other  of  those  good  things  for  the 
attainment  of  which  men  are  willing  to  labour.  If,  then,  we  can  ascertain 
the  power  of  consumption  at  various  periods,  and  the  result  be  to  show  that 
it  has  invariably  increased  under  one  course  of  action,  and  as  invariably 
diminished  under  another,  it  will  be  equivalent  to  a  demonstration  of  the 

*  Treasury  Report,  Feb.  1,  1847. 

t  A  person  employed  in  the  preparation  of  government  statistics  inquired,  on  being 
asked  to  prepare  some  tables,  what  was  to  be  the  policy  to  be  proved.  “  Why,”  said  the 
other,  “ could  you  prove  both  sides?”  “Equally  well,”  said  he. 

08549 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


327 


truth  of  the  one  and  the  falsehood  of  the  other.  To  accomplish  this,  has 
been  the  object  of  the  inquiry  in  which  I  have  recently  been  engaged. 

It  is  necessary  now  to  show  what  have  been  the  distinguishing  features 
-  of  the  several  systems  that  have  been  in  operation  during  the  period  to  be 
examined.  They  are  as  follows  : — 

First.  The  tariff  of  1816  was  a  planters’  and  farmers’  measure.  Cotton 
and  coarse  cotton  cloths  were  carefully  protected.  Iron  itself  was  well  pro¬ 
tected,  but  almost  all  manufactures  of  iron,  the  commodities  for  the  pro¬ 
duction  of  which  pig  or  bar  iron  could  be  used,  were  admitted  at  20  per 
cent.  Wool  paid  15  per  cent.  Blankets  and  woollen  and  stuff  goods  paid  15 
per  cent.,  and  finer  goods  25  per  cent.,  until  1819,  after  which  they  paid 
but  20  per  cent.  Spirits  paid  a  heavy  specific  duty,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
farmers  ;  but  paper,  hats,  caps,  manufactures  of  leather,  types,  and  manu¬ 
factured  articles  generally,  paid  only  from  20  to 80  percent.  Coal  paid  5  cents 
per  bushel,  but  the  commodities  in  the  manufacture  of  which  coal  was  to  be 
used  paid  ad  valorem  duties.  Protection  was  thus  given  to  the  coarse 
commodities  that  least  required  it,  and  refused  to  those  for  the  production 
of  which  the  coarser  ones  were  to  be  used.  As  a  matter  of  course,  its  pro¬ 
tective  features  were  totally  inoperative. 

Second.  That  of  1824,  under  which  iron  was,  as  before,  well  protected, 
but  manufactures  of  iron,  and  of  metals  generally,  were  admitted  at  25  per 
cent.  Wool  was  raised  to  20  per  cent.,  to  increase,  by  successive  stages, 
until  it  reached  30  per  cent.  Coarse  woollens  were  fixed  permanently  at 
25  per  cent.  Finer  ones  were  to  rise  gradually  until  they  reached  33f  per 
cent.  Carpets  paid  from  20  to  50  cents  per  square  yard.  Hams  paid  3, 
and  butter  5  cents  per  pound.  Potatoes  10,  oats  10,  and  wheat  25  cents 
per  bushel ;  while  scythes,  spades,  shovels,  and  other  things  requisite  for 
the  raising  of  wheat  and  potatoes,  paid  30  per  cent.  Spirits  were  carefully 
protected.  Bolting  cloths  paid  15  per  cent.  Sail-duck,  Osnaburgs,  &c.,  15  per 
cent.  Cotton  cloths  paid  25  per  cent.,  with  a  minimum  of  30  cents  per 
yard.  The  general  features  of  this  law  did  not  vary  materially  from  those 
of  that  of  1816,  although  protection  was  slightly  increased. 

Third.  The  first  tariff  thoroughly  protective,  and  so  intended  to  be,  was 
that  of  1828.  It  continued  until  1832,  when  was  passed  the  first  of  two 
laws  by  which  the  whole  policy  of  the  country  was  changed.  This  series 
constitutes  stage  the 

Fourth.  By  the  act  of  July  14,  1832,  railroad  iron  was  admitted  free  of 
duty.  Axes,  spades,  &c.,  as  before,  30  per  cent.  Bar  and  pig  iron  were 
carefully  protected,  but  a  large  portion  of  the  commodities  for  which  they 
were  needed  were  thus  admitted  without  duty,  or  at  the  same  rate  as  under 
our  present  free-trade  tariff.  Tea  and  coffee  were  free.  Silks  paid  10  per 
cent.  Wool  was  protected,  but  worsted  stuff  goods  were  admitted  at  10  per 
cent.  Cotton  goods  paid  25  per  cent.,  with  minimums  of  30  cents  for  plain, 
and  35  for  prints.  This  continued  in  force  until  the  following  March,  when 
was  passed  the  Compromise  Act,  under  which  linens,  stuff  goods,  silks,  and 
other  articles  were  admitted  free  of  duty,  and  one-tenth  of  the  excess  over 
20  per  cent,  reduced  from  all  other  commodities,  to  take  effect  December, 
1833,  with  a  further  similar  reduction  every  two  years  until  1841,  when 
one-half  of  the  remaining  surplus  was  to  be  reduced,  and  the  other  half  in 
1842,  when  no  duty  would  exceed  20  per  cent. 

Fifth.  The  protective  tariff  of  1842,  which  was  followed  by 

Sixth.  The  free  trade  tariff  of  1846,  now  in  existence. 

We  have  thus  had  six  different  systems,  but  the  first  and  second  differ 
from  each  other  so  little  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  separate  the  years  falling 
under  them,  whereas  the  early  years  of  the  Compromise  differ  so  essentially 


328 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


from  the  two  latter  that  it  is  expedient  to  separate  them.  I  shall  therefore 
group  the  results  as  follows  : — 

First.  The  tariffs  of  1816  and  1824,  ending  with  1829. 

Second.  That  of  1828,  commencing  with  October,  1829,  and  ending 

with  the  period  at  which  the  Compromise  began  to  become  operative  Oc¬ 
tober,  1834. 

Third.  The  Compromise,  commencing  with  1835  and  endino-  with  1841 

Fourth.^  The  years  1842  and  1843,  the  period  immediately  preceding 
and  following  the  passage  of  the  act  of  1842,  being  that  of  the  strictly  reve¬ 
nue  tariff  of  20  per  cent.  J 

The  tariff  of  1842,  commencing  June,  1843,  and  ending  Juney 
1847.  6 

Sixth.  That  of  1846,  commencing  June,  1847,  and  coming  down  to  the 
present  time. 

It  will  be  observed  that  I  have  placed  the  year  1829  in  the  first  period 
and  1834  m  the  second.  It  is  not  the  passage  of  an  act  that  produces 
change,  but  its  practical  operation,  and  the  first  year  of  the  existence  of  a 
new  system  is  but  the  sequel  of  that  which  is  passing  out.  When  pro¬ 
tection  is  given  to  the  makers  of  cloth  and  iron,  mills  and  furnaces  are  not 
built  in  a  day,  nor  are  they  abandoned  as  soon  as  protection  is  withdrawn. 
Had  it  been  possible,  I  would  have  pursued  the  same  precise  system  with 
every  period,  but  it  was  not.  The  act  of  1842  came  into  operation  on  the 
first  of  September  of  that  year,  and  in  the  following  one  the  time  for  makino- 
up  the  Treasury  accounts  was  changed  to  June  30,  and  therefore  only  the 
first  ten  months  that  followed  its  going  into  effect  could  be  included  under 
the  previous  period.  That  of  1846  did  not  come  into  effect  until  December  1, 
and  therefore  but  the  first  seven  months  that  followed  could  be  included  in 
the  system  of  1842.  The  law  of  1842  was  in  existence  four  years  and  a 
quarter,  but  I  could  give  it  only  four  years,  which  works  materially  to  its 
disadvantage,  and  to  the  advantage  of  that  of  1846. 

In  some  cases  even  more  than  a  year  would  be  required  to  make  an  exact 
comparison  of  the  working  of  the  different  systems.  The  immigration  of 
one  year  is  materially  influenced,  perhaps  I  might  say  determined,  by  the 
state  of  the  labour-market  of  the  previous  year,  and  the  change  in  that  is  at 
least  a  year  subsequent  to  the  passage  of  a  law.  Thus,  if  the  tariff  of  1842 
tended  to  raise  the  compensation  of  the  labourer,  its  effects  would  not  be¬ 
come  obvious  until  1843,  and  it  would  not  be  until  1844  or  even  1845,  that 
an  increase  of  immigration  would  take  place.  The  price  of  labour  was 
high  in  1847-8,  and  we  have  a  large  amount  of  immigration  in  1849.  It 
is  now  falling,  and  the  immigration  of  next  year  will  probably  be  reduced. 

So  likewise  is  it  with  the  supply  of  grain.  A  diminution  in  the  demand 
for  labour  in  mines  and  furnaces  in  1842  tended  to  increase  emigration  to 
the  West.  For  the  first  year,  1843,  those  emigrants  were  consumers  only. 
In  the  second,  1844,  they  had  grain  to  sell,  and  prices  fell.  In  the  present 
year,  the  demand  for  labour  in  mines  and  furnaces,  and  in  the  erection  of 
mills  and  furnaces,  is  diminished,  and  emigration  to  the  WYst  is  increased 
yet  the  effect  of  this  on  the  supply  and  price  of  food  may  not,  and  probably 
will  not  become  obvious  until  1851. 

Your  predecessor  appears  entirely  to  have  overlooked  this  necessity  for 
allowing  time  to  permit  new  systems  to  develope  themselves,  and  to  affect 
the  movements  of  the  people.  In  his  last  report  to  Congress  is  given  a 
comparative  view  of  the  receipts  from  customs  in  the  last  six  months  of  the 
tariff  of  1842,  and  the  first  six  of  that  of  1846,  by  which  it  is  shown  that  the 
one  was  twice  as  productive  as  the  other,  and  yet  very  slight  reflection 
would  have  sufficed  to  satisfy  him  that  scarcely  any  portion  of  the  difference 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


329 


had  resulted  from  the  change  of  commercial  policy  indicated  by  the  adoption 
of  his  tariff.  The  amount  that  could  be  imported  and  paid  for  was  dependent 
on  the  state  of  affairs  that  had  existed  in  the  country  during  the  previous  year, 
and  the  passage  of  the  law  had  scarcely  even  the  slightest  influence  upon 
it.  In  the  same  way,  the  receipts  from  customs  from  September,  1842,  to 
November,  1846,  are  compared  with  those  of  1847  and  1848,  when  it  is 
well  known  that  in  1842,  under  the  ^Compromise,  the  imports  had  fallen  so 
low  that  the  government  was  compelled  to  send  to  Europe  to  endeavour  to 
effect  a  loan  for  its  support  even  in  a  time  of  profound  peace.  If  a  cause 
has  right  on  its  side,  such  erroneous  views  cannot  be  required  to  be  pre¬ 
sented.  In  the  tables  that  I  shall  now  offer  for  consideration,  I  have  pur¬ 
sued,  as  nearly  as  possible,  a  uniform  course,  commencing  each  period  at 
the  time  at  which  the  system  might  fairly  be  deemed  to  become  operative, 
to  wit :  at  the  close  of  the  fiscal  year  following  the  one  in  which  the  law  was 
enacted.  If  error,  then,  exist  at  the  commencement  of  the  period,  it  will 
find  its  compensation  at  the  close,  and  thus  justice  will  be  done  to  all. 

There  still  remain  two  other  points  in  regard  to  these  tables,  to  which  I 
have  to  ask  your  attention. 

First.  It  is  usual  in  almost  all  tables  of  import  and  export  to  exclude 
specie  and  bullion.  This  is  wrong,  and  tends  to  produce  error,  and  to  pre¬ 
vent  a  proper  understanding  of  the  working  of  the  system  that  may  be  under 
consideration.  Gold  and  silver  are  commodities  produced  abroad,  of  which 
we  consume  large  quantities,  occasionally  exporting  the  surplus  ;  and  there 
is  no  reason  whatever  why  they  should  not  be  treated  precisely  as  are 
coffee,  wines,  brandy,  and  other  foreign  commodities.  When  they  are  im¬ 
ported  they  come  in  exchange  for  our  products,  and  the  sum  of  merchandise 
and  specie  imported  is  the  value  of  our  exports.  When  exported,  they  go 
in  lieu  of  our  products,  and  should  be  treated  as  foreign  merchandise  re¬ 
exported.  By  deducting  them  from  the  value  of  the  merchandise  imported 
we  obtain  the  value  of  our  domestic  exports. 

Second.  It  is  usual  to  affix  to  the  commodities  exported  arbitrary  prices, 
and  thus  to  obtain  their  money  value.  These  prices  are  fixed  at  the  ports 
of  shipment,  and  represent  only  what  ice  ask  for  the  commodities  we  have 
to  sell,  not  what  we  get  for  them.  They  represent,  too,  the  prices  minus 
the  earnings  of  the  machinery  employed  in  performing  the  work  of  trans¬ 
portation,  which  must  then  be  guessed  at.  The  consequence  of  all  this  is, 
that  the  tables  published  by  the  Treasury  are  totally  worthless  as  guides  to 
a  proper  understanding  of  the  general  course  of  trade.  What  is  needed  to 
obtain  such  an  understanding  is  that  the  nation  make  out  its  accounts  as  it 
would  do  if  it  were  a  merchant,  putting  down  not  the  price  asked  but  the 
price  received,  and  then  balancing  its  books  by  ascertaining  whether  the 
year’s  business  has  increased  or  diminished  its  debts.  The  amount  received 
for  our  exports  constitutes  their  precise  value,  and  to  ascertain  what  is  that 
amount  we  should  take  the  value  of  merchandise  imported,  deducting  there¬ 
from  any  debt  contracted,  or  adding  thereto  any  debt  paid  off,  during  the 
year.  Thus,  if  the  imports  be  $100,000,000,  and  the  debt  contracted  by 
the  transfer  of  stocks  has  been  $10,000,000,  the  amount  paid  for  by  our  ex¬ 
ports  is  only  $90,000,000.  On  the  contrary,  if  we  have  paid  off  that  amount  of 
debt,  it  should  be  added,  and  we  should  thus  obtain  $110,000,000  as  the 
true  value  of  the  produce  and  merchandise  exported.  The  freights  are  thus 
included. 

To  carry  this  fully  into  practice  in  the  following  tables  would  be  im¬ 
practicable,  but  it  may  be  done  in  part.  It  is  generally  understood  that,  the 
amount  of  American  stocks,  public  and  private,  held  in  Europe  in  1841 
exceeded  $200,000,000,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  they  exceeded 


330 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


by  $170,000,000  the  amount  held  in  November,  1834,  when  the  great  stock 
speculation  commenced.*  By  deducting  this  sum  from  the  merchandise 
imported  between  the  close  of  1834  and  the  year  1841,  we  shall  obtain  the 
value  of  produce  and  merchandise  exported.  A  part  of  this  debt  was  ab¬ 
sorbed  in  the  years  1845,  1846,  and  1847,  while  on  the  other  hand  new 
debts  were  created  last  year,  and  are  now  being  created  by  the  transmission 
of  evidences  of  debt.  To  the  imports  of  the  three  first  named  should  be 
added  the  debt  absorbed,  and  from  those  of  the  last  two  years  should  be 
deducted  the  debt  created,  and  we  should  then  obtain  the  actual  amount 
paid  for  by  produce  and  domestic  merchandise  exported,  and  by  the  ship¬ 
ping  employed  in  the  work  of  transportation. 

There  are  other  and  earlier  years  in  which  corrections  might  be  required, 
but  they  are  of  trifling  amount  by  comparison  with  those  to  which  1  have 
referred.  In  those  years  small  loans  were  made,  but  it  is  probable  that 
nearly  as  much  was  paid  off,  except  perhaps  in  1825,  in  which  a  con¬ 
siderable  amount  of  European  debt  was  created.  The  amount,  however, 
is  so  uncertain  that  I  have  not  thought  it  worth  while  to  make  any  cor¬ 
rection  therefor;  although  to  do  so  might,  and  perhaps  would,  produce  a 
sensible  diminution  in  the  value  received  for  our  produce  exported  prior  to 
1829,  which  would  thereby  be  placed  in  a  somewhat  worse  position  than 
that  in  which  I  have  represented  it. 

With  these  remarks,  I  will  now  proceed  to  lay  before  you  the  results  of 
my  inquiries.  In  doing  so,  I  will  give  every  fact  that  appears  to  me  likely 
to  throw  light  on  this  important  question,  concealing  nothing.  If,  then, 
those  who  have  arrived  at  conclusions  different  from  mine,  and  are  in  pos¬ 
session  of  other  facts,  will  put  them  together  as  I  now  do,  we  may  by  de¬ 
grees  arrive  at  the  truth.  It  is  the  great  question  for  the  nation,  and  it  is 
time  that  it  should  be  examined  as  a  purely  scientific,  and  not  as  a  party  or 
sectional  one. 

(  c  h  UAc  v  JX ) 

LETTER  SECOND. 

The  average  population  of  the  Union  in  the  several  periods  referred  to, 
is  thus  estimated  in  the  last  Treasury  Report  :f 

First.  For  the  years  from  that  ending  Dec.  31,  1821,  to  that  of 

Dec.  31,  1829  .  11,247,000 

Second.  From  Sept.  1829,  to  Sept.  1834J  ....  13,698,000 

Third.  From  Sept.  1834,  to  Sept.  1841  ....  16,226,000 

Fourth.  From  Sept.  1841,  to  June,  1843  ....  18,296,000 

Fifth.  From  June,  1843,  to  June,  1847J  ....  19,771,000 

Sixth.  From  June,  1847,  to  June,  1848  ....  21,000,000 

Seventh.  From  June,  1848,  to  June,  1849  .  .  .  21,700,000 


*  Report  of  Select  Committee  on  Banks  of  Issue :  Evidence  of  Mr.  I.  Horsley  Palmer, 
page  106. 
f  Page  68. 


t  As  these  years  are  frequently  referred  to  separately,  I  give  their  population,  on  the 
same  authority: — 


1829- ’30 

1830- 31 

1831- 32 
IS  32-’ 33 
1 833-34 


12.856.165 
13,377,415 
13,698,665 
14,119,915 

14.541.165 


1843- !44  .  19,034,332 

1844- ’45  .  19,525,749 

1845- 46  .  20,017,165 

1846- 47  .  20,508,5S2 

1847- ’48  21,000,000 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS* 


331 


The  amount  of  foreign  merchandise,  specie  included,*  retained  in  these 
several  periods,  has  been  as  follows  : — 


1821  to  1829 

•  • 

Total. 

$508,000,000 

Annual  Average. 

56,400,000 

Pr.  head. 

$5-00 

1830  . 

•  • 

55,500,000 

4-32 

1831  . 

•  • 

81,000,000 

6-10 

1832  . 

•  • 

75,500,000 

5*51 

1833  . 

•  • 

88,000,000 

6-20 

1834  . 

•  • 

103,000,000 

7*08 

1835  to  1841 

Deduct  debt  incurred 

854,000,000 

170,000,000 

684,000,000 

97,700,000 

6-02 

1842  to  1843(21  months,  ending  June  30,)  145,000,000 

82,000,000 

4-48 

1 843-’44  . 

•  • 

96,000,000 

503 

1844-’45  . 

•  • 

101,000,000 

516 

1845-’46  . 

Add  debt  and  back  in¬ 
terest  paid 

110,000,000 

5,000,000 

115,000,000 

5-75 

1846-’47  . 

Do. 

138,000,000 

5,000,000 

143,000,000 

7 

1847-’48  . 

Deduct  debt  incurred 

131,600,000 

8,000,000 

121,600,000 

5-88 

1848-’49  . 

Do. 

134,700,000 

22,000,000 

112,700,000 

5-19 

The  facts  derivable  from  an  examination  of  the  above  accounts 

are  as 

follows : — 

First.  That  the  amount  received  from  foreign  nations  in  exchange  for  our 
surplus  products  largely  increased  during  the  existence  of  the  tariff  of  1828. 

Second.  That  the  amount  so  received  diminished  greatly  after  the  Com¬ 
promise  Bill  began  to  become  operative. 

Third.  That  the  amount  so  received  from  foreign  nations  was  still  fur¬ 
ther  and  largely  diminished  under  the  strictly  revenue  clauses  of  that  bill, 
and  that  the  tendency  was  downward  when  the  system  was  changed. 

Fourth.  That  the  amount  so  received  increased  rapidly  under  the  tariff 
of  1842,  attaining  nearly  the  same  point  that  had  been  reached  under  the 
tariff  of  1828,  and  that  in  both  cases  the  tendency  was  still  upwards  when 
the  system  was  changed. 

Fifth.  That  the  amount  so  received  diminished  in  the  year  1848. 

Seventh.  That  the  amount  of  debt  incurred  in  the  last  two  years  must 
tend  to  produce  a  further  diminution  in  future  ones. 

In  establishing  the  scale  of  value  of  our  exports,  including  the  earnings 
of  shipping,  the  following  is  the  order  to  be  pursued  : — 

First,  and  lowest.  The  strictly  revenue  clauses  of  the  Compromise  Act. 


•The  movement  of  specie  in  those  periods  was  as  follows: — 

1821  to  1829,  Excess  export  .  $9,000,000  Deducted  from  the  merchandise 

imported. 


1830  to  1834,  Excess  import 

25,000,000 

Added  thereto. 

1835  to  1841,  “  « 

27*900,000 

do. 

1842  and  1843,  “  « 

20,000,000 

do. 

1844  to  1847,  «  « 

18,000,000 

do. 

1848,  Excess  export 

9,000,000 

Deducted. 

1849,  “  import 

2,000,000 

Added. 

332 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


Second.  The  partially  protective  tariffs  of  1816  and  1824. 

Third.  The  Compromise  Act. 

Fourth.  The  tariff  of  1828. 

Fifth,  and  highest.  The  tariff  of  1842. 

Thus  far,  the  tariff  of  1846  stands  below  that  of  1842,  and  the  tendency 
is  downward,  but  to  what  place  in  the  scale  it  will  descend  can  be  deter¬ 
mined  only  after  it  shall  have  been  some  years  in  operation. 

Such  are  the  money  values  of  our  exports,  but  the  question  now  arises — 
What  quantity  of  commodities  could  be  obtained  in  those  several  periods  for 
that  money  ?  That  I  will  now  give  as  regards  cotton-cloth,  and  iron,  as 
follows : — 

By  a  table*  of  the  prices  of  goods  exported  from  England,  from  1830  to 
1844,  it  appears  that  the  average  cost  of  two  pieces  of  cloth,  of  the  same 
description,  one  printed  and  the  other  plain,  was  as  follows : — 

’30  to  ’34.  ’35  to  ’41.  ’42  and  ’43.  ’44  to  ’47. 

19/10  18/  14/11  16/6 

And  the  exports  of  100  men 
in  those  periods  would  pay  for, 

pieces  of  each  .  .  .  126  138  140  145 

It  would  thus  appear  that  if  the  whole  amount  of  our  exports  had  been 
returned  in  cotton  cloth,  we  should  have  received  ten  per  cent,  more  in  the 
period  from  1835  to  1841  than  in  that  from  1830  to  1834 ;  eleven  per  cent, 
more  in  1842  and  1843;  and  fourteen  per  cent,  more  in  the  period  from  1844 
to  1847.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  during  all  this  time  there  has  been  a 
constant  diminution  in  the  quantity  of  labour  required  for  the  conversion  of 
wool  into  cloth,  more  than  sufficient  to  account  for  the  difference,  and 
the  important  fact  to  be  observed  is,  that  the  power  to  purchase  foreign 
cloth  does  not  increase  in  any  proportion  to  the  diminished  price  of  cotton, 
so  large  a  portion  of  the  expenses  after  leaving  the  plantation  tending  to  in¬ 
crease  with  the  increased  supply.  Let  us  now  look  to  iron. 

The  average  price  of  iron  in  England  was  as  follows  : — t 

’21— ’29.  ’30-’34  ’35 — ’4 1  ’42-’43  ’44-’47 

$44-76  28-80  41-00  24-84  39-64 

The  exports  of  100  persons 

would  therefore  purchase,  tons  11*4  20-3  14-6  14  14-5 

Had  the  whole  exports  of  the  country  been  returned  in  iron,  the  quantity 
received  in  the  period  from  1830  to  1834  would  have  been  almost  double 
that  received  under  the  tariffs  of  1816  and  1824,  and  exceeding  by 
almost  one-half  that  received  in  the  period  from  1835  to  1841,  and 
that  received  in  the  years  1842  and  1843.  We  see  also  that  notwith¬ 
standing  the  great  railroad  speculation  of  England,  in  the  years  from 
1844  to  1847,  the  quantity  that  would  have  been  received  in  that  period 
would  have  been  as  great  as  at  any  other  except  the  years  of  the  tariff  ol 
1828.  It  would  thus  appear  that  the  value  in  iron  of  our  surplus  products 
exported  was  much  greater  in  the  longest  period  of  protection  than  in  any 
of  the  three  periods  of  freer  trade.  What  will  be  the  average  under  the 
tariff  of  1846  must  be  ascertained  at  a  future  time. 

In  my  next  I  will  proceed  to  examine  the  power  of  production  and  con¬ 
sumption  in  these  several  periods. 

I  am  yours,  very  respectfully,  Henry  C.  Carey. 

Hon.  Wm.  M.  Meredith,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 


*  Merchants’  Magazine,  Yol.  IX.  page  277. 
f  Ibid.  Yol.  XX.  p.  337. 


Pflugl),  tl )t  tooxn,  caxb  tl )t  Qrn'xl 


Yol.  II.  JANUARY,  1850.  No.  VII. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS: 

AGRICULTURAL,  MANUFACTURING,  AND  COMMERCIAL. 

BY  H.  C.  CAREY. 


CHAPTER  THIRD. 


REVIEW  OF  THE  COMMERCIAL  POLICY  OF  THE  LAST  THIRTY  YEARS. 


I  NOW  proceed  to  show  in  detail  the  consumption  of  various  commo¬ 
dities,  of  foreign  and  domestic  production.  In  doing  so,  it  will  be  necessary 
in  some  cases,  to  arrive  at  a  correct  understanding,  to  make  allowances 
similar  to  those  above  given :  my  object  being  that  of  showing  what  was 
the  power  to  consume  that  was  derived  from  the  power  to  produce  commodi¬ 
ties  to  be  given  in  exchange  for  those  which  were  consumed.*  It  would  be 
proper  to  do  this  in  all,  but  the  effect  would  be  to  render  the  whole  somewhat 
complicated,  besides  involving  much  labour.  In  giving  the  imports  of  the 
period  from  1834  to  1841,  they  will  always  be  accompanied  with  the  mark 
of  minus  one-fifth,  so  as  to  show  the  amount  consumed  and  paid  for.  In 
giving  those  of  1845-6  and  1846-7,  they  will,  in  some  important  cases,  be 
accompanied  with  that  of  plus  one-twentieth,  so  as  to  show  the  quantity  of 
merchandise  imported  in  a  previous  period,  and  then  paid  for  by  the  cancel¬ 
ling  of  certificates  of  debt.  Those  of  1848  will  have  the  mark  of  minus 
one-seventh,  to  show  the  amount  paid  for  by  the  re-export  of  nine  millions 
of  foreign  merchandise  in  the  form  of  specie,  and  the  export  of  eight  millions 
of  certificates  of  debt.  Of  the  imports  of  the  year  ending  in  June  last, 
amounting  to  $134,700,000,  about  $22,000,000,  or  one-sixth,  were  obtained 
in  exchange  for  such  certificates,  and  will  be  so  marked. 


The  total  value  of  pig,  bar  and  manufactured  iron,  of  every 
imported  into  the  Union,  since  1821,  has  been  as  follows  : — 


Years  ending, 


Sept.  30,  1821  to  1829,  average 

.  $5,400,000 

CC 

1830  . 

5,900,000 

CC 

1831 . 

.  7,200,000 

cc 

1832  . 

8,800,000 

« 

1833  . 

.  7,700,000 

cc 

1834  . 

8,500,000 

u 

1835  to  1841  .  $10,000,000  —  ^, 

.  8,000,000 

cc 

1842  to  June  30,  1843,  average 

5,500,000 

June  30, 1844  . 

.  5,700,000 

CC 

1845  . 

9,000,000 

CC 

1846  .  .  .  $5,830,000 -f  A, 

.  6,120,000 

a 

1847  ...  +*• 

9,000,000 

» 

1848  .  .  .  12,500,000  —  ^ 

.  10,800,000 

a 

1849  .  .  .  13,833,094—|  . 

11,500,000 

*  See  December  number,  page  331. 

Yol.  II.- 

-50  2  h  2 

description, 


Per  head. 

48  cents. 

46 

cc 

54 

cc 

64 

cc 

55 

cc 

59 

cc 

49 

cc 

30 

cc 

30 

cc 

46 

cc 

31 

cc 

44 

cc 

50 

CC 

53 

cc 

389 


390 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


We  see  here,  that  the  value  imported  and  paid  for,  largely  increased  from 
from  1830  to  1834,  under  the  protective  tariff  of  1828 ;  that  it  diminished 
considerably  between  1834  and  1841,  and  that  it  reached  the  lowest  point  in 
1841-2  and  1842-3.  Thenceforward  it  rose,  and  the  year  1846-7  shows  an 
advance  of  about  fifty  per  cent,  from  the  lowest  point.  It  is  therefore  ob¬ 
vious,.  that  the  power  to  pay  for  foreign  iron  increased  under  protection,  and 
diminished  with  its  withdrawal.  I  give  now  the  quantity  of  various  kinds 
of  iron  imported : 


Pig, 

Old, 

Rolled, 

Hoop, 

Steel, 

Ham’d, 

Total, 

Pr  h. 

tons. 

tons. 

tons. 

tons. 

tons. 

tons. 

tons. 

lbs. 

1821  to  1829,  average, 

1550 

— 

5400 

1500 

1200 

26,000 

35,650 

7 

1830, . 

.  1129 

— 

6449 

1038 

1223 

30,693 

40,532 

7 

1831, . 

6448 

— 

17,245 

2532 

1710 

23,308 

51,243 

H 

1832, . 

.  10,151 

— 

20,387* 

2853 

2146 

38,150 

73,687 

3 

12 

1833,  ....:. 

998 

28,028* 

3350 

2131 

36,129 

79,961 

13 

1834, . 

.  11,113 

1617 

28,896* 

2214 

2431 

31,784 

78,055 

12 

1S35  to  1841,  average  — 

■ 

00 

00 

o 

o 

640 

36,000* 

2600 

2150 

24,000 

74,190 

10 

1842-3,  average,  .  . 

.  14,500 

500 

46,000f 

2900 

2400 

14,750 

81,050 

10 

1844, . 

.  26,050 

5770 

46,000 

3600 

2800 

17,500 

101,720 

12 

1845, . 

27,000 

5800 

51,000 

5800 

2800 

18,176 

110,576 

13 

1846, . 

.  24,000 

2350 

24,000 

5040 

5200 

21,800 

82.390 

9 

1847, . 

27,800 

1850 

40,000 

6000 

5400 

15,300 

96,350  104 

1848, . — 

\  44,000 

5700 

70,000 

8300 

5850 

17,000 

150,850 

16 

1849, . — 

£  88,000 

8000 

145,000 

10,000 

9,000 

260,000 

27 

The  quantity  paid  for  by  our  exports  was  thus  almost  doubled  before  the 
termination  of  the  second  period,  in  1834;  while  it  diminished  under  the 
compromise,,  and  still,  further  under  the  revenue  system.  As  the  tariff  of 
1842  came  into  activity,  we  find  a  rapid  increase  in  the  power  to  purchase 
until  the  import  became  checked  by  the  vast  increase  in  the  price  abroad,  and 
in  the  manufacture  at  home. 

DOMESTIC  PRODUCTION  OF  IRON. 

In  1810,  the  whole  number  of  furnaces  in  the  Union  was  153,  yielding  54,000  tons  of 
metal,  equal  to  16  pounds  per  head  of  the  population. 

1821,  the  manufacture  was  in  a  state  of  ruin. 

1828,  the  product  had  reached  130,000  tons,  having  little  more  than  doubled  in 
eighteen  years. 

1829,  it  was  142,000.  Increase  in  one  year,  nearly  ten  per  cent. 

1830,  “  165,000.  Increase  in  two  years,  more  than  twenty-five  per  cent. 

1831,  “  191,000.  Increase  in  three  years,  about  fifty  per  cent. 

1832,  «  200,000,  giving  an  increase  in  three  years  of  above  sixty  per  cent. 

1840,  the  quantity  given  by  the  census  was  286,000,  but  a  committee  of  the  Home 

League,  in  New  \ork,  made  it  347,700  tons.  Taking  the  medium  of  the 
two,  it  would  give  about  315,000  tons,  being  an  increase  in  eight  years  of  fifty 
per  cent. 

1842,  a  large  portion  of  the  furnaces  were  closed,  and  the  product  had  fallen  to 
probably  little  more  than  200,000,  but  certainly  less  than  230,000  tons. 

1846,  it  was  estimated,  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  at  765,000  tons,  having 
trebled  in  four  years. 

1 847,  it  was  supposed  to  have  reached  the  amount  of  not  less  than  800,000  tons. 

1848,  it  became  stationary. 

1849,  many  furnaces  being  already  closed,  the  production  of  the  present  year  cannot 
be  estimated  above  650,000  tons ;  but,  from  the  accumulation  of  stock  and  the 
difficulty  of  selling  it,  it  is  obvious  that  the  diminution  next  year  will  be 
greater. 


*  Railroad  iron  free  of  duty.  f  Duty  re-imposed. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


391 


Domestic  product. 

Per  head. 

Import. 
Per  head. 

Total  consumption. 

1821  to  1829,  average, 

.  90,000 

18 

7 

25 

1830, . 

.  165,000 

29 

7 

36 

1831, . 

.  191,000 

33 

8t 

41  2 

1832, . 

.  210,000 

35 

12 

47 

1833, . 

.  210,000* 

33 

13 

46 

1834, . 

.  210,000* 

33 

12 

45 

1835  to  1841,  average, 

.  250,000 

35 

11 

46 

1842-1843,  average, 

230,000 

28 

10 

38 

1844, . 

.  380,000 

45 

12 

57 

1845, . 

.  500,000 

58 

13 

71 

1846, . 

.  765,000 

86 

9 

95 

1847, . 

.  800,000 

88 

l0f 

9Sf 

1848, .  800,000  86  19 

Deduct  from  this  the  quantity  imported  in  exchange  for  certi¬ 
ficates  of  debt,  and  therefore  remaining  to  be  paid  for  at  a 

105 

future  time,  . 

3 

There  will  remain  .  .  .  .  .  .  .102 

If  now  we  further  deduct  from  this  the  accumulation  of  stock  on 
hand,  we  shall  find  the  consumption  not  exceeding  that  of  the 
preceding  year,  say  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  9S| 

1849, .  650,000  67  32  99 

The  value  imported  in  this  period  is  $13,800,000,  and  the  amount 
of  debt  incurred  is  $22,000,000,  chiefly  for  this  iron.  The 
quantity  on  hand  is  variously  estimated  between  250  and  300 
thousand  tons.  Taking  the  former,  the  amount  per  head  would 
be  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .26 

Which  being  deducted,  would  leave  the  consumption  at  .  —  73 

From  1821  to  1829;  the  cost  of  iron,  in  labour,  was  high,  as  is  shown  in 
the  fact  that  the  consumption  was  but  twenty-five  pounds  per  head.  In 
1832,  it  had  risen  to  47  pounds ;  hut,  railroad  iron  being  then  freed  from 
duty,  the  consumption  of  the  two  following  years  fell  off,  indicating  an  increased 
difficulty  of  obtaining  it.  Thence  to  1841,  the  average  power  of  consumption 
appears  to  have  remained  almost  perfectly  stationary )  but,  in  the  two 
following  years,  we  find  it  receding  rapidly.  As  the  tariff  of  1842  comes 
into  operation,  there  is  a  rapid  increase  in  the  power  of  consumption,  indi¬ 
cating  a  diminution  in  the  amount  of  labour  required  for  its  purchase )  and 
the  year  1846-7  shows  it  attaining  a  point  far  higher  than  ever  before  known, 
being  almost  100  pounds  per  head.  With  the  year  1847-8,  the  domestic 
production  declined  in  its  ratio  to  population,  and  the  import  increased ;  but 
the  total  quantity  in  market  was  very  little  greater  than  in  the  previous  year, 
yet  the  close  of  that  year  showed  an  accumulation  of  stock  on  hand.  In 
1849  we  find  a  rapid  increase  of  import  and  diminution  of  production,  yet 
the  total  quantity  brought  to  market  is  less  per  head  than  in  1846-7,  and  of 
that  there  is  already  so  vast  an  accumulation  that  the  seaports  are  filled  with 
it,  and  the  stock  on  hand  at  the  furnaces  is  such,  that  many  will  be  forced  to 
stop  work,  as  numbers  have  already  done.f  It  is  obvious  that  the  difficulty 


*  Railroad  iron,  free  of  duty. 

I  Pennsylvania  is  the  great  iron-producing  State  of  the*  Union,  and  we  may  form 
some  idea  of  the  accumulation  of  stock,  or  the  diminution  of  production,  there,  from  the 
following  facts.  The  pig  iron  sent  to  market  by  the  one  route  of  the  Chesapeake  and 
Delaware  Canal,  from  the  opening  of  navigation  to  the  first  of  September,  1848, 
amounted  to  24,000  tons;  whereas,  in  the  same  period  of  1849,  it  fell  to  little  over  12,000 
tons,  and  the  bar  iron  from  5000  to  1250  tons. 


392 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


of  obtaining  iron  .is  increasing,  and  that  the  consumption  is  rapidly  diminish¬ 
ing,  with  a  tendency  to  still  further  diminution. 

The  important  facts  to  be  derived  from  this  examination  are — first,  the 
small  increase  of  importation  that  results,  even  temporarily,  from  the  abo¬ 
lition  of  the  duty.  During  the  period  from  1830  to  1832,  railroad  iron  paid 
duty,  and  yet  the  importation  trebled  in  that  time,  and  the  last  year  was  far 
the  greatest  of  the  three.  For  nine  years  after,  it  was  totally  free  from  duty ; 
and,  although  much  of  that  which  was  imported  for  railroads  is  said  to  have 
been  used  for  other  purposes,  the  increase  averages  but  seventy  per  cent.  By 
the  tariff  of  1841,*  railroad  iron  was  rendered  subject  to  duty,  and  the  import 
of  rolled  iron  in  1842  and  1843  was  46,000  tons,  being  two-thirds  more 
than  was  imported  free  of  duty  in  1834. 

Second.  That,  under  the  protective  tariff  of  1828,  the  total  consumption, 
per  head,  increased,  in  four  years,  fifty  per  cent.  That,  under  the  system 
which  prevailed  from  1832  to  1842-3,  consumption  was  almost  stationary, 
and  was  probably  less  per  head  than  it  had  been  at  the  commencement  of 
the  period.  That,  under  the  tariff  of  1842,  the  average  consumption  in¬ 
creased  in  the  first  year  from  thirty-nine  to  fifty-seven  pounds,  and  that,  in 
1846  and  1847,  it  attained  the  height  of  almost  one  hundred  pounds  per 
head,  exceeding  by  150  per  cent,  the  consumption  of  the  free  trade  period  of 
1842-3. 

If,  now,  we  look  at  the  single  article  of  railroad  iron,  we  find  similar 
results.  Up  to  1842,  not  a  single  ton  of  it  had  ever  been  made  in  this 
country,  and  yet  the  average  consumption  of  rolled  iron,  of  every  description, 
in  the  ten  years  from  1832  to  1842,  free  of  duty  as  it  was,  was  but  about 
36,000  tons.  Commenced  only  in  1843,  the  manufacture  of  railroad  bars 
in  1845  had  already  reached  about  50,000  tons,  and,  in  1847,  it  had 
attained  nearly  100,000  tons,  and  yet  the  average  import  of  rolled  iron  for 
the  four  years  was  nearly  as  great  as  before.  The  domestic  production  has 
now  fallen  almost  to  nothing,  and  yet  the  import  has  been  only  174,000,  of 
which,  it  is  said,  there  is  now  on  hand  a  supply  adequate  to  meet  the  demand, 
such  as  it  is  at  present,  for  two  years  to  come. 

The  questions  to  be  settled  are — Which  is  the  system  under  which  iron  is 
most  cheaply  furnished  ?  Which  is  the  one  under  which  it  is  most  readily 
obtained  by  those  who  desire  fo  use  it  ?  If  free-trade  be  the  one,  then  the 
power  to  import,  under  it,  ought  to  grow  more  rapidly  than  the  power  to 
produce  diminishes )  but  we  see  here  that  the  power  to  import  diminishes 
with  the  power  to  produce,  and  grows  with  the  growth  of  the  power  of  pro¬ 
duction,  being  greatest  under  protection. 

COAL. 


1821  to  1829,  average, 

Anthracite. 

Tons. 

37,000 

Foreign. 

Tons. 

30,000 

Total. 

Tons. 

67,000 

Consumption  per 
1000  of  populat’n. 
6  tons. 

1830, . 

142,000 

54,000 

196,000 

15 

1831,  . 

216,000 

34,000 

250,000 

19 

1832, . 

318,000 

66,000 

384,000 

28 

1833, . 

395,000 

85,000 

480,000 

34 

1834, . 

451,000 

67,000 

518,000 

35 

1835  to  1836,  .  .  . 

671,000 

78,000 

749,000 

50 

1837, . 

881,000 

140,000 

1,021.000 

995?000 

64 

1838  to  1841,  .  .  . 

850,000 

145,000 

58 

1842, . 

1,108,000 

141,000 

1,249,000 

69 

*  This  was  a  provisional  tariff,  having  for  its  sole  object  the  increase  of  revenue,  and 
was  limited  to  alterations  in  a  few  articles. 


THE  HARMONY 


1843,  r . 

Anthracite. 

Tons. 

1,312,000 

1844, . 

1,631,000 

1845, . 

2,023,000 

1846, . 

2,343,000 

1847, . 

2,982,000 

1848, . 

3,089,000 

1849, . 

3,200,000 

OF  INTERESTS.  393 


Foreign. 

Total. 

Consumption  per 

Tons. 

Tons. 

1000  of  populat’n. 

55,000 

1,367,000 

74 

87,000 

1,718,000 

90 

86,000 

2,109,000 

108 

-  156,000 

2,499,000 

125 

148,000 

3,130,000 

152 

196,000 

3,285,000 

156 

200,000 

3,400,000 

156 

In  this  case,  it  has  been  necessary  to  separate  the  years  1842  and  1843, 
because  of  the  whole  of  the  latter  coming  within  the  action  of  the  tariff  of  1842,* 
the  account  of  the  domestic  production  being  made  up  to  the  close,  instead 
of  the  middle  of  the  year,  as  in  the  case  of  imports. 

The  facts  that  here  present  themselves  are  worthy  of  careful  consideration. 

When  we  produced  little  coal,  we  imported  little,  the  total  consumption 
being  only  six  tons  per  thousand  of  the  population.  As  the  production 
grew,  the  import  grew,  and  thus,  in  1846  and  1847,  when  we  produced 
eighty  times  as  much  as  in  the  period  from  1821  to  1829,  we  imported  five 
times  more. 

From  1829  to  1834,  and  thence  to  1837,  the  increase  of  consumption  was 
rapid.  Thence  to  1841,  it  diminished  ten  per  cent.  In  1842,  it  was 
scarcely  higher  than  it  had  been  five  years  before.  In  the  five  years  which 
followed,  it  rose  from  69  to  152  tons,  showing  a  rapid  diminution  in  the 
quantity  of  labour  required  to  be  given  in  exchange  for  it.  In  1848,  under 
the  action  of  the  tariff  of  1846,  the  production  became  almost  stationary, 
and  the  diminished  power  of  consumption  is  shown  in  the  fact  that  although 
the  quantity  sent  to  market  maintains  the  same  ratio  to  population,  much  of 
it  is  sold  at  a  loss  to  the  producer. 

With  every  step  in  the  growth  of  the  home  production  of  coal,  the  money 
price  has  steadily  diminished.  That  of  a  ton  of  anthracite  in  1826,  in 
Philadelphia,  was  six,  eight,  and  sometimes  ten  dollars,  and  yet  the  whole 
import  was  only  970,000  bushels,  or  about  30,000  tons.  In  1846,  the  price  of 
anthracite  was  about  four  dollars,  and  yet  the  import  was  156,000  tons.  It 
would  appear  from  this,  that  when  a  nation  is  capable  of  supplying  itself, 
other  nations,  desiring  to  sell,  must  come  to  them  and  sell  at  the  lowest 
price,  and  the  consumption  is  large;  but  when  it  cannot  supply  itself,  it 
must  go  abroad  to  seek  supplies,  and  pay  the  highest  price,  and  then  con¬ 
sumption  is  small.  Applying  this  to  iron,  we  find  that  when  we  had  to  seek 
abroad  for  nearly  all  our  supply,  it  sold  at  prices  twice  or  thrice  as  great  as 
those  at  which  it  is  now  obtained. 

In  1846  and  1847,  notwithstanding  the  vast  increase  in  the  supply  of 
coal,  so  great  was  the  consumption  that  we  had  to  go  abroad  to  make  up  the 
deficiency,  and  to  pay  the  high  prices  which  our  own  demand  largely  tended 
to  produce,  a  state  of  things  which  could  not  have  happened  had  we  been 
prepared  to  supply  the  whole  demand. 

It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  the  converse  of  this  proposition  may  not  be 
true,  to  wit,  that  when  a  nation  makes  a  market  at  home  for  nearly  all  its 
products,  other  nations  have  to  come  and  seek  what  they  require,  and  pay 
the  highest  price;  and  that,  when  it  does  not  make  a  market  at  home, 
markets  must  be  sought  abroad,  and  then  sales  must  be  made  at  the  lowest 
prices.  If  both  of  these  be  true,  it  would  follow  that  the  way  to  sell  at 
the  highest  prices  and  buy  at  the  lowest  is  to  buy  and  sell  at  home. 


*  It  came  into  action  on  the  30th  of  August  of  that  year. 


394 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


COTTON. 


Years  ending 
September  30, 

u 

«( 

a 

a 

<< 

u 

June  30, 

u 

U 

C6 

U 

U 


IMPORT  OF  COTTON  GOODS. 


1821  to  1829,  average,  . 

1830,  . 

1831,  . 

1832,  . 

1833,  . 

1834,  . 

1835  to  1841, .  12,000  — i... 

1842  to  June  30, 1843,  average, . 

1844,  . 

1845,  . 

1846,  . 

1847, * . 


1848,  .  §18,412,000  —  1... 

1849,  .  15,180,000  —  ^... 


Per  bead.' 


§9,454,000 

84  cts. 

7,862,000 

61 1 

16,090,000 

1-21 

; 

10,399,000 

76 

-76  av. 

7,660,000 

54 

10,145,000 

70 

9,600,000 

59 

7,184,000 

39 

13,641,000 

72 

13,863,000 

71 

13,500,000 

67J 

16,071,000 

78 

15,582,000 

74 

12,650,000 

56 

The  number  of  yards  imported  in  several  years  is  thus  given.  I  have 
been  unable  to  complete  this  table,  or  it  should  be  given  in  full.  I  give  all 
I  have  met  with : 


1831,  . 68,577,000 

1835,  .  53,974,000 

1836,  .  56,931,000 

1837,  .  23,774,000 

1838,  .  20,240,000 

1839,  .  42,418,000 

1840,  .  20,011,000 


1842-3,  .  8,936,000 

1844- 5,  .  34,500,000 

1845- 6,  .  36,800,000 


The  differences  here  appear  much  more  striking  than  in  the  table  above. 
The  diminution  of  consumption  under  the  free-trade  system  is  very  regular, 
and  the  increase  under  protection  nearly  as  much  so. 


Owing  to  the  variety  of  cotton  goods  imported,  it  is  difficult  to  estimate 
the  weight  of  cotton  contained  in  them  \  but,  in  the  following  table,  I  have 
made  a  rude  estimate,  with  a  view  to  show  the  growth  of  domestic  con¬ 
sumption.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  a  large  portion  of  the  foreign 
commodities  are  of  the  finer  and  more  costly  descriptions,  and  that  the 
weight  is  therefore  small  when  compared  with  the  value. 


Taken  by  Taken  by  Per  bead, 

Northern  Southern  domes-  Per  head.  Total, 


Crop  of 

manufacturers. 

manufacture. 

tic. 

foreign. 

p.  head. 

1825-6  to  1829-30, 

average,  bales  110,000 

4  lbs. 

1^  lbs. 

6b 

1830-31,  . 

.  182,000 

5b 

1 

6b 

1831-32,  . 

.  173,000 

Sb 

2 

7b 

1832-33,  . 

.  194,000 

5b 

lb 

6* 

1833-34,  . 

.  196,000 

5b 

Of 

6b 

1834-35,  . 

.  216,000 

5f 

lb 

7 

1835-36,  to  1841-42,  average,  ...  263,000 

61 

1 

7b 

1842  43,  . 

.  325,000 

7 

Of 

7* 

1843  44,  . 

.  347,000 

n 

lb 

8b 

1844  45,  . 

.  389,000 

8 

lb 

9b 

1845-46,  . 

.  423,000 

30,000 

91 

lb 

10b 

1846  47,  . 

.  428,000 

40,000 

9b 

lb 

lOf 

1847  48,  . 

.  531,000 

75,000 

12 

lb 

13b 

1848  49,  . 

.  518,000 

100,000 

11  3 

12b 

A 

THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


395 


In  estimating  the  domestic  consumption,  I  have  throughout  taken  the 
bale  at  four  hundred  pounds,  although  aware  that  there  has  been  a  gradual 
increase  of  the  weight.  This  change  would  be  important  to  be  considered, 
if  it  were  my  object  to  compare  1847  with  the  'distant  year  1831 ;  but  it  is 
unimportant  when  the  object  in  view  is  the  comparison  of  years  which  are 
near  together,  as  is  the  fact. 

The  results  in  this  case  correspond  almost  precisely  with  those  obtained 
from  the  examination  of  iron  and  coal.  The  home  consumption  of  the  crop 
of  1834-5,  per  head,  was  almost  fifty  per  cent,  greater  than  the  average  of 
previous  years,  while  the  import  remained  almost  undisturbed.  Under  the 
Compromise,  consumption  appears  to  have  remained  almost  perfectly  sta¬ 
tionary,  the  increase  of  domestic  production  being  compensated  by  diminished 
importation.  In  1842-3,  the  consumption  per  head  was  scarcely  greater 
than  it  had  been  eight  years  before,  when  it  should  have  doubled.  With 
the  operation  of  the  tariff  of  1842,  we  find  the  consumption  of  domestic 
products  75  per  cent,  greater,  while  the  import  is  also  almost  doubled. 
It  would  appear  obvious,  that  the  power  to  obtain  clothing  in  return  for 
labour  increased  in  both  protective  periods,  and  diminished  with  the  approach 
to  free  trade.  With  1848-9,  the  demand  for  Northern  manufactures  dimi¬ 
nished;  and,  as  many  mills  are  now  closed  that  were  at  work  but  •a  few 
months  since,*  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  power  to  obtain  clothing 
in  return  for  labour  is  in  a  course  of  gradual  diminution. 

A  portion  of  the  cotton  worked  up  at  home  has  been  exported,  and  was 
therefore  not  consumed  at  home.  To  have  made  allowance  for  this  would 
have  made  the  table  very  complicated,  and  it  did  not  appear  to  be  necessary, 
as  the  proportions  were  well  preserved,  having  been  about  a  million  of 
dollars  when  the  home  consumption  was  100,000  bales,  two  millions  when 
it  rose  to  200,000,  three  millions  out  of  300,000,  and  five  millions  out  of 
500,000  bales. 

WOOL. 

IMPORT  OP  WOOLLENS. 

Years'ending 

September  80,  1821  to  1829,  average,  .  .  §8,900,000 

“  1830, .  5,766,000 

“  1831, .  12,627,000 

“  1832, .  9,992,000 

“  1833,  .  .  .  '  .  .  13,262,000 

“  1834, .  11,879,000 

“  1835  to  1841,  av.,  $13,950,000— 1  11,160,000 

“  1842  to  June  30,  1843,  .  .  6,300,000 

June  30,  1844, .  9,475,000 

“  1845, .  10.666,000 

“  1846, .  10,089,000 

“  1847, .  10,570,000 

“  1848,  .  .  §15,230,000  —  \  13,000,000 

“  1849,  .  .  13,704,000  —  v  11,400,000 


Per  head. 

79  cents 

45 

95 

75 

93 

82 

69 

34 

50 

55 

50 

51 

62 

53 


*  Within  the  last  six  months  there  have  been  been  many  failures  among  those  engaged 
in  the  business;  and,  in  these  cases,  the  mills  are  not  only  closed,  but  likely  so  to  remair.. 

The  import  into  Cincinnati  may  be  taken  as  evidence  of  the  course  of  affairs  in  thie 
West,  and  here  we  have  the  same  result: 


1846- 7, .  12,528  bales. 

1847- 8, .  13,476 

1S48-9, .  9,058 


We  see,  thus,  that  notwithstanding  the  extreme  lowness  of  price,  the  consumption  has 

diminished. 


396 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


.  ^>1*01  the  passage  of  the  tariff  of  1824,  the  woollen  manufacture  was 
m  a  very  depressed  condition;  and,  in  1825,  the  number  of  sheep  was  only 
fourteen  millions  *  producing  about  thirty-five  millions  of  pounds  of  wool. 
Itienceforward  the  number  increased,  and  the  crop  of  1829,  1880  and 
lb ol,  was  estimated  at  fifty  millions  of  pounds,  the  produce  of  twenty  mil¬ 
lions  of  sheep.  At  the  close  of  1834,  there  had  been  a  further  increase* 
but  to  what  extent  we  are  not  informed;  but  the  value  of  the  woollen 
manufacture  was  estimated  at  65  millions  of  dollars  against  40  millions  in 
lool.  In  1840,  the  census  returns  show  but  19,311,000,  the  number 
having  diminished  while  the  population  had  largely  increased.  The  depres¬ 
sion  of  1841-^  was  accompanied  by  the  sacrifice  of  sheep  to  a  considerable 
extent;  yet  so  rapid  was  the  subsequent  change,  that  the  number,  in  1845 
was  estimated  at  twenty-five  millions, f  and  in  1848  at  twenty-eight  millions! 
o  ™  ^  ’  m  onlJ  2,065,000 ;  but,  in  1848,  the  number  had  risen  to 
o,o77, 000.  The  number  in  New  York,  in  1845,  was  6,443,000,  and,  sub¬ 
sequently  to  that  date,  it  had  largely  increased. 

^^T^e^Ver^eS  °a  * ie  -^ew  Y°rk  canals,  and  at  Pittsburgh,  in  1840,  were 
one-fifth  of  the  total  production  by  the  census ;  and,  since  that  date,  they 
are  thus  stated — t  .  ;  J 


1841, 

1842, 

1843, 

1844, 


5,094,035 

4,823,881 

5,713,289 

6,798,769 


1845, 

1846, 

1847, 

1848, 


13,267,609 

12,269,537 

16,325,987 

11,665,540 


E\en  this  does  not  mark  the  whole  increase,  as  the  woollens  factories  of 
the  interior  of  New  York  and  other  States  absorb  much  that  would  otherwise 
pass  on  the  canals,  destined  for  distant  places. 

With  these  very  imperfect  data,  we  may  now  form  some  estimate  of  the 
consumption  of  this  most  important  commodity.  In  estimating  the  weight 
contained  in  the  cloth  imported,  I  have  taken  it  as  being  worth  one  dollar 
per  pound,  and  therefore  the  figures  which  represent  the  value  per  head 
give  also  the  weiyht  per  head. 


Average  of 

1821  to  1829,  . 

Millions 
of  sheep. 

.  15 

Pounds  of 
wool. 

37,500,000 

Imports. 

Pounds. 

2,000,000 

Total,  domestic 
manufacture. 

39,500,000 

Per  head. 

Total, 
dom.  &  for. 

3.50  4-29 

1830,  . 

20 

50,000,000 

669,000 

50,669,000 

3-90 

4-35 

18ol,  . 

.  21 

52,500,000 

5,622,000 

58,122,000 

4-40 

5-35 

22 

55,000,000 

4,042,000 

59,062,000 

4-40 

5-15 

1833,  ... 

10  0/4 

.  23 

57,500,000 

950,000 

58,450,000 

4-15 

5-08 

.  # 

24 

60,000,000 

2,341,000 

62,341,000 

4-30 

5-12 

1835  to  1841, 

.  22 

55,000,000 

10,000,000 

65,000,000 

4- 

4-69 

1842  and  1843, 

19 

48,000,000 

7,500,000 

55,500,000 

3- 

3-34 

1844,  . 

22 

55,000,000 

23,800,000 

78,800,000 

4-10 

4-60 

-1.845,  ... 

.  24 

60,000,000 

28,800,000 

88,800,000 

4-50 

5-05 

1846,  .  , 

26 

65,000,000 

16,500,000 

81,500,000 

4-10 

4-60 

1847,  .  .  a 

.  27 

67,500,000 

8,460,000 

75,960,000 

3-70 

4-20 

1848,  . 

1849, 

28 

•  • 

70,000,000 

•  • 

11,380,000 

17,860,000 

81,380,000 

3-90 

4-52 

Py  the  tariff  of  1846,  the  duty  on  many  descriptions  of  foreign  wool  was 
raised,  while  that  on  cloths  was  lowered;  which  accounts  for  the  great  dimi¬ 
nution  in  the  quantity  imported. 

That  this  is  very  incorrect  there  is  no  doubt;  but  it  will  enable  us  to 
make  some  comparison  between  the  increase  of  imports  as  compared  with 
the  diminution  of  home  production.  Prom  1830  to  1834,  the  production 


*  Pitkin’s  Statistics,  p.  4S8. 

4  Merchant’s  Magazine,  Yol.  XXI.,  p.  217. 


t  Patent  Office  Report,  1847,  p.  213. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


397 


grew,  and  the  import  was  large.  From  1835  to  1841,  the  former  largely 
diminished  in  its  ratio  to  population;  and  the  foreign  cloths  paid  for  in  that 
period  fell  to  sixty-nine  cents  per  head.  In  the  revenue  period,  from  June, 
1841,  to  June,  1843,  production  was  very  small,  and  the  import  fell  to  about 
thirty-four  cents  per  head.  In  the  four  succeeding  years,  both  grew  rapidly.  _ 
Under  the  tariff  of  1846,  there  is  a  slight  increase  of  import;  but  the  home 
manufacture  has  diminished.  The  power  to  obtain  cloth  in  exchange  for 
labour  has,  therefore,  invariably  grown  in  the  protective  periods,  and  dimi¬ 
nished  with  every  approach  to  free  trade. 


PRODUCTION  OP  LEAD. 


The  arrivals  at  New  Orleans  have  been  as  follows: — 


Pigs. 

1828-29,*  average,  164,000 

1830,  .  .  254,000 

1831,  .  .  .  151,000 

1832,  .  .  122,000 

1833,  .  .  .  180,000 


1834,  . 

1835  to  1841, 

1842,  . 

1843, 

1844,  . 


Pigs. 

202,000 

298,000 

473,000 

571,000 

639,000 


1845,  . 

1846, 

1847,  . 

1848, 

1849,  . 


Pigs. 

732,000 

785,000 

659,000 

606,000 

508,000 


We  see  here  that  the  average  of  the  seven  years,  from  1835  to  1841,  was 
little  greater  than  the  product  of  1830.  The  temporary  tariff  of  September, 
1841,  raised  the  duty  to  five  cents  per  pound,  and  production  rose  to 
almost  800,000  pigs.  Since  the  passage  of  that  of  1846,  it  has  fallen  to 
500,000,  and  for  this  diminished  supply  there  is  little  demand. 

We  have  thus  far  seen  that  the  application  of  labour  and  capital  to  the 
opening  of  mines,  the  erection  of  furnaces,  mills,  and  factories,  and  to  the 
conducting  of  such  works,  was  arrested  at  the  close  of  1834,  and  that  it 
did  not  recommence  until  after  the  passage  of  the  tariff  of  1842.  We  have 
also  seen  that  it  increased  rapidly  from  1843  to  1847,  that  it  became  sta¬ 
tionary  in  1848,  and  is  now  retrograding.  Both  seek  to  be  employed,  and 
if  denied  employment  at  home  they  must  seek  it  abroad.  If  employed  at 
home,  there  is  a  tendency  to  concentration  and  combination  of  action.  If 
sent  abroad,  there  is  a  tendency  to  dispersion,  with  diminished  power  of  com¬ 
bination.  One  of  these  courses  tends  to  increase  the  reward  of  labour,  the 
other  to  diminish  it.  With  a  view  to  ascertain  the  effects  of  the  two  systems, 

1  Sive> 

First,  The  amount  of  immigration,  as  showing  how  far  the  wages  of 
labour  tended  to  invite  the  people  of  foreign  nations  to  come  and  reside 
amongst  us,  and, 

Second,  The  amount  of  shipping  built,  to  show  how  far  the  establishment 
of  an  import  trade  of  men,  the  cargo  that  pays  the  highest  freights,  tended  to 
increase  the  facilities  provided  for  the  export  of  merchandise : — 


IMIGRATION. 


1821  to  1829,  .  .  12,000 

1830,  ....  27,153 

1831,  ....  23,074 

1832,  ....  45,287 

1833,  ....  56,547 

1834,  ....  65,335 

1835  to  1841,  ]  .  .  67,520 


1842-3,  .  .  .  88,133 

1844,  ....  74,607 

1845,  .  .  .  102,415 

1846,  ....  147,051 

1847,  .  .  .  234,742 

1848,  ....  229,492 

1849,  .  .  .  299,610 


*  These  are  the  earliest  years  for  which  I  have  met  with  any  accounts. 


Vol.  II.— 51 


2  1 


398 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS 


Total  shipping  Ibuilt.  Per  thousand.  Per  million  of 

tons.  of  population.  Steamers  built,  population. 


.  821  to  1829, 

average,  90,000 

• 

8  1823- 

-29 

35 

3-1 

1830, 

• 

58,000 

• 

4-5 

37 

3 

1831, 

• 

85,000 

• 

6-4 

34 

2-6 

1832, 

• 

144,000 

• 

10-5 

100 

7-2 

1833, 

• 

161,000 

11-4 

65 

4-6 

1834, 

• 

118,000 

• 

8-1 

68 

4-7 

1835  to  1841, 

• 

108,000 

• 

6-6 

92 

5-7 

1842-3,  . 

• 

91,000 

• 

5 

108 

5-8 

1844,  (nine  months,) 

103,000= 

=137,000 

7-2 

163= 

:  2 1 7 

11-4 

1845, 

• 

146,000 

• 

7-5 

163 

8-5  „ 

1846, 

• 

188,000 

• 

9-4 

225 

11-5 

1847, 

• 

243,000 

• 

11-8 

198 

9-7 

1848, 

• 

316,000 

• 

15 

175 

8-3 

1849, 

• 

256,000 

• 

11-8 

208 

9-6 

We  see  here  a  large  increase  in  the  years  from  1830  to  1834,  followed  by 
a  gradual  diminution  until  we  reach  1843,  after  which  the  rise  is  very  rapid. 

On  a  former  occasion,  I  stated  that  immigration  was  not  affected  by 
changes  of  policy  until  after  the  lapse  of  more  time  than  was  required  for 
other  of  the  subjects  we  have  had  under  consideration.  A  change  tends  to 
raise  or  depress  the  value  of  labour — to  raise  or  depress  the  price  of  men — 
and  after  a  rise  has  been  effected,  men  come  to  offer  their  labour  for  sale. 
It  will  be  seen  that  the  number  in  1831  was  less  than  in  1830,  and  that 
it  was  not  until  1832  that  it  rose.  With  the  exception  of  1835,  it  con¬ 
tinued  to  rise  until  1836-7,  when  it  reached  78,083,  after  which  it  fell.  In 
1843-4,  it  felt  the  effect  of  the  disastrous  year  1842,  and  the  number  was 
only  74,000;  and  it  was  not  until  1844-5  that  it  began  to  grow  rapidly. 
At  the  present  moment  it  is  large,  because  of  the  great  demand  for  labour  in 
the  years  that  have  passed,  but  it  is  now  feeling  the  effect  of  the  present 
diminished  demand,  and  consequent  fall  of  wages. 

Such,  likewise,  is  the  case  with  shipping.  The  first  effect  of  a  rise  of 
wages  is  to  increase  the  power  to  obtain  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  it  is  not 
until  after  that  shall  have  been  done  that  the  power  to  consume  foreign  com¬ 
modities  tends  materially  to  increase.  The  increase  of  ship-building  did  not 
commence  until  1832.  It  fell  off  in  1838.  Thus  far  the  movement  is  pre¬ 
cisely  the  same  as  that  of  immigration.  It  recommenced  in  1844,  somewhat 
in  advance  of  immigration.  It  is  now  maintained  by  that,  and  that  alone, 
and  when  that  is  falling  off,  it  must  fall  too.  The  close  connection  between 
the  power  to  secure  valuable  return-freights  and  the  power  to  build  ships,  is 
shown  in  the  following  table,  in  which  the  movements  of  both  are  shown : — 


Immigration. 

Shipping  built. 

1821-31, 

aver.,  14,000  . 

.  87,000* 

1832, 

45,000 

144,000 

1833,  . 

.  56,000  . 

.  161,000 

1834, 

65,000 

118,000 

1835,  . 

.  53,000  . 

.  60,000 

1836, 

62,000 

113,000 

1837,  . 

.  78,000  . 

.  122,000 

1838-42, 

aver.,  76,000 

120  000 

1843,  . 

Immigration. 

.  75^000  . 

Shipping  built. 

.  64,000 

1844, 

74,000 

140,000 

1845,  . 

1846, 

.  102,000  . 

.  146,000 

147,000 

188,000 

1847,  . 

.  239,742  . 

.  246,000 

1848, 

229,492 

316,000 

1849,  . 

.  299,610  . 

.  256,003 

The  amount  of  shipping  at  present  employed  is,  probably,  less  than  it  was 
two  years  since.  A  vast  quantity  now  lies  idle  in  the  ports  of  California,  and 
it  is  to  replace  it  that  ships  are  now  being  built. f  How  far  the  immigration 


*  Average  of  last  two  years  only  71,000. 

j-  The  reason  for  now  building  ships  may  be  found  in  the  fact  stated  in  the  following 
paragraph,  which  I  take  from  one  of  the  papers  of  the  day : — 

“It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  of  all  the  ships  arrived  in  the  bay  of  San  Francisco  from 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


399 


of  the  ensuing  year  is  likely  to  afford  inducements  for  increasing  our  tonnage 
may  he  judged  from  the  following  comparative  view  of  the  arrivals  at  New 
York  in  the  last  four  months  of  the  two  past  years,  as  compared  with  the 
present  one,  furnished  by  the  Commissioners  of  Immigration : — 

September,  October,  November,  and  December,  1847.  1848.  1849. 

44,137  61,310  48,715 

Instead  of  an  increase  of  about  forty  per  cent.,  there  is  a  diminution  of 
above  twenty  per  cent.;  and  that  this  decrease  must  go  on,  will  be  obvious 
from  the  facts  contained  in  the  following  paragraph,  which  I  take  from  the 
New  York  Herald: — 

“Emigration  to  Europe. — The  fine  and  well-tried  packet-ship,  Ashburton,  sailed 
yesterday  for  Liverpool,  having  on  board  104  passengers,  who  having  taken  a 
glimpse  at  ‘  the  land  of  liberty,’  and  not  finding  it  the  El  Dorado  they  expected, 
came  to  the  conclusion  of  returning  homeward.  They  were  principally  natives  of 
Ireland.  The  Jamestown  and  Constellation  sail  to-morrow  with  similar  cargoes.” 

Every  man  who  thus  returns  prevents  the  emigration  of  a  hundred  that 
would  otherwise  have  crossed  the  Atlantic. 

I  propose  now  to  show  the  tendency  to  depopulation,  as  marked  by  the 
sale  of  public  lands,  compared  with  immigration  : — 


Land  sold. 

Per  head  of 

Land  sold. 

Per  head  of 

Acres. 

Immigration. 

Acres. 

Immigration. 

1821-29, 

average,  825,000  . 

.  69 

1843,  . 

.  1,605,000 

.  21 

1830, 

1,244,000 

46 

1844, 

1,754,000 

.  23 

1831,  . 

.  1,929,000  . 

.  83 

1845,  . 

.  1,843,000 

.  18 

1832, 

2,777,000 

61 

1846, 

2,263,000 

.  15 

1833,  . 

.  2,462,000  . 

.  44 

1847,  . 

.  2,521,000 

.  11 

1834, 

4,658,000 

70 

1848, 

2,747,000 

.  13J 

1835-41, 

average,  7,150,000 

.  105f 

1849,  not 

obtained. 

•  t 

1842, 

1,129,000 

11 

At  no  period  of  our  history  has  the  process  of  depopulation  proceeded 
with  the  vigour  that  is  now  manifested.  Emigrants  from  Europe  are  now 
returning  home,  disappointed ;  while  the  emigration  to  the  West  is  almost 
marvellous.  The  quantity  of  land  sold  does  not,  as  I  understand,  give  any 
clue  to  the  quantity  occupied,  because  of  the  facilities  afforded  by  the  law  to 
squatters. 

It  is  estimated,  we  are  told,  that  from  thirty  thousand  to  fifty  thousand 
have  been  added  to  the  population  of  Iowa  within  six  iveeks,  and  that,  by  the 
close  of  navigation,  the  population  will  have  increased  one-fourth  since  the 
1st  of  September.  Such  is  the  course  of  things  in  regard  to  all  the  new 
States,  west  and  south-west;  and,  if  to  this  be  added  the  emigration  to  Cali¬ 
fornia,  it  may  be  doubted  if  the  population  of  the  old  States  will  be  as  large 
at  the  close  of  the  year  as  it  was  at  the  commencement. 

the  Atlantic  ports,  some  of  which  have  been  anchored  there  for  near  four  months,  not  one 
is  advertised  for  a  return  trip  home.  This,  of  course,  is  easily  accounted  for.  There  is 
no  freight  to  come  back,  but  passengers  and  gold  dust,  and  as  these  mostly  prefer  the 
steamers,  the  ships  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  wait  and  see  what  circumstances  may  do 
for  them.  Meanwhile,  the  absence  of  so  many  vessels,  and  the  improbability  of  an  early 
return,  are  having  a  strengthening  influence  upon  home  freights.  Rates  ere  long  must 
rapidly  advance ;  and  were  it  spring  time  now,  instead  of  fall,  I  think  it  would  be  diffi¬ 
cult  to  negotiate  engagements  at  present  prices.” 

A  vast  amount  of  capital  has  been  locked  up  in  ships  that  are  idle,  and  others  must 
now  be  built  to  take  their  place.  If  they  were  back  again,  ship-building  would  now  be 
entirely  suspended. 

I  To  this  must  be  added  the  occupation  of  Texas  and  Oregon. 

4  To  these  must  be  added  the  occupation  of  California. 


400 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


PRODUCTION  OF  FOOD. 


The  power  to  supply  food  to  those  who  come  to  live  amongst  us,  and  also 
to  send  it  abroad  in  exchange  for  other  commodities,  may  be  taken  as  some 
evidence  of  the  productiveness  of  labour  applied  to  its  cultivation,  and  I 
therefore  give  the  following  statement  of  the  export  and  import  of  wheat  and 
flour,  in  bushels  of  the  former : — 


Exports. 

Imports. 

by  immigration.  Depopulation. 

1821-29 

average,  4,400,000 

12,000 

69 

1830, 

.  6,100,000 

27,000 

46 

1831, 

9,441,000 

23,000 

83 

1832, 

.  4,407,000 

45,000 

61 

1833, 

4,811,000 

56,000 

44 

1834, 

.  4,113,000 

65,000 

70 

1835, 

.  3,914,000 

311,0001 

** 

1836, 

2,529,000 
.  1,610,000 

650,000 

63,000 

1837, 

4,000,000 

105 

1838, 

1839, 

1840, 

1841, 

2,247,000 
.  4,712,000 

11,198,000 
.  8,447,000 

927,000  j 

72,000 

’  Texas  and  Oregon. 

1842, 

7,237,000 

1 

L  88,000 

11 

1843, 

.  4,519,000 

21 , 

1844, 

7,751,000 

74,000 

23 

1845, 

.  6,365,000 

102,000 

18 

1846, 

13,061,000 

147,000 

15 

1847, 

.  26,312,000 

20,000 

234,742 

Mexico  and 

1848, 

1849, 

12,631,000 
.  9,500,000 

369,000 

229,000 

299,610 

j  California. 

It  is  here  shown  that,  notwithstanding  the  rapid  growth  of  manufactures 
in  the  period  from  1830  to  1834,  the  export  of  food  was  not  only  maintained 
but  it  increased.  The  tendency  to  depopulation  had  diminished,  and  the  power 
to  obtain  iron  to  assist  in  the  work  of  cultivation  had  increased.  Thereafter ,  with 
the  increasing  tendency  to  depopulation,  as  immigration  and  manufac¬ 
tures  and  the  power  to  obtain  iron  became  stationary,  the  production 
of  food  so  far  diminished  that  the  price  rose  to  such  a  point  as  to  render  it 
profitable  to  import  it;  and  it  may  be  doubted  if,  notwithstanding  the  in¬ 
crease  of  numbers,  the  whole  quantity  produced  between  1835  and.  1840 
was  greater  than  in  the  five  previous  years.  From  1843,  we  find  it  gra¬ 
dually  increasing,  notwithstanding  the  vast  amount  of  labour  employed 
in  producing  coal,  iron,  cotton  and  woollen  goods,  ships,  steamboats,  &c. 
How  great  was  the  increase  may  be  seen  by  the  following  comparison  of  the 
returns  under  the  census  of  1840,  and  the  Patent  Office  estimates  for 
1847 : — 

Totals. 
615,522,000 
867,826,000 


Wheat. 

1840,  .  .  84,823,000 

1847,  .  .  114,245,000 

Barley. 

4,161,000 

5,649,000 

Oats. 

123,071,000 

167,867,000 

Bye. 

18,645,000 

29,222,000 

Buckwh’t. 

7,291,000 

11,673,000 

Ind.  Corn. 

377,531,000 

539,350,000 

Increase,  29,422,000 

1,488,000 

44,797,000 

10,577,000 

4,382,000 

161,819,000 

252,304,000 


We  have  here  an  increase  of  no  less  than  40  per  cent,  in  seven  years, 
during  which  the  increase  of  population  was  but  23  per  cent.  Equally 
divided  among  the  whole  people,  there  would  be  36  bushels  per  head  in  the 
one  case,  and  42  in  the  other;  and  thus  we  see  that  the  increase  in  the  faci¬ 
lity  of  obtaining  the  machinery  of  cultivation  is  attended  by  increase  in  the 
product  of  cultivation;  while  increase  in  the  power  to  produce  cotton  and 
woollen  cloth  enables  the  farmer  to  obtain  for  each  bushel  produced  a  larger 
amount  of  clothing  than  before. 


THE  HARMONY  OF 

INTERESTS. 

401 

The  net  export 

is  as  follows,  per  head  of  the  population : — 

1821  to  1829,  .  , 

.  -39 

1834, 

.  -29 

1845, 

.  -33 

1830,  . 

•47 

1835  to  1841, 

•25 

1846,  . 

.  *65 

1831, 

.  -71 

1842-3,  . 

.  -31 

1847, 

.  1-28 

1832,  . 

•32 

1844,  . 

•41 

1848,  . 

•60 

1833, 

.  -35 

1849, 

•45 

We  see,  thus,  that  with  the  exception  of  the  year  of  the  famine  in  Ire¬ 
land,  it  has  never  reached  a  hushel  per  head,  and  that  it  has  invariably 
been  largest  in  the  periods  of  protection — those  periods  in  which  the  largest 
and  most  valuable  home  freights  could  be  obtained.  With  the  approach  to 
free  trade  the  power  to  maintain  trade  has  diminished ;  and  as  we  have  re¬ 
ceded  from  it  and  have  approached  protection,  it  has  increased  with  the 
growth  of  immigration. 

The  effect  of  this  is  seen  in  the  constantly  increasing  quantity  of  Canadian 
produce  that  passes  through  New  York  on  the  way  to  England.  It  is  stated 
that  while  in  1848  only  50,000  barrels  of  Canadian  flour  passed  through 
New  York,-  the  quantity  in  1849  that  came  through  by  the  single  route  of 
Oswego  was  200,000  barrels,  and  that  there  were,  in  addition,  623,000 
bushels  of  wheat.  This,  being  of  foreign  production,  has,  of  course,  to  be 
deducted  from  the  amount  of  exports ;  but  if  the  import  of  men  should 
diminish,  freights  outward  must  rise,  and  the  tendency  to  send  flour  or 
wheat  to  market  through  the  ports  of  the  Union  will  pass  away. 

What  was,  prior  to  the  census  of  1840,  the  production  of  grain,  it  is  not 
now  possible  to  ascertain ;  but  we  know  that,  in  the  period  from  1830  to 
1834,  prices  were  moderate  and  consumption  was  large.  It  is  not  probable 
that  it  was  as  much  per  head  as  was  given  by  the  census  for  1840,  because 
the  increased  facilities  of  transportation  in  the  latter  period  enabled  the 
farmer  to  give  more  of  his  labour  to  cultivation.  If  it  be  taken  at  thirty 
bushels  per  head,  it  will  probably  not  vary  greatly  from  the  truth.  In  the 
following  period,  production  was  so  small  that  prices  rose  to  a  point  that 
permitted  importation  from  Europe ;  and  the  advance  so  far  exceeded  that  of 
wages  as  to  cause  almost  universal  disturbance  between  employers  and  work¬ 
men.  It  may  be  doubted  if  it  then  exceeded  twenty-five  bushels  per  head. 
By  degrees,  the  tendency  to  depopulation  diminished;  and,  in  1840,  we  find 
it  thirty-six  bushels,  to  rise  to  forty-two  in  1847.  The  same  causes  that 
diminished  production  in  1836  are  now  again  at  work.  Immense  num¬ 
bers  of  people  are  in  motion  changing  their  places  of  labour;  and  those 
that  have  gone  to  California,  New  Mexico,  the  Salt  Lake,  &c.,  can  scarcely 
be  taken  at  less  than  a  hundred  thousand.  These  men  are  not  now 
producers;  and  thus,  while  we  have  this  year  added  to  our  population 
280,000  persons  from  abroad  requiring  to  be  fed,  we  have  exported  great 
numbers  who  have  not  only  ceased  to  be  producers,  but  have  taken  with 
them  vast  quantities  of  food.  It  may  fairly  be  doubted  if  the  product  of 
this  year,  per  head,  exceeds  thirty-eight  to  forty  bushels;  and  hence  it  is,  in 
part,  that  the  prices  are  even  thus  far  maintained-.  Nevertheless,  there  is  a 
gradual  tendency  to  a  fall  of  prices,  showing  a  power  of  consumption  dimin¬ 
ishing  in  a  greater  ratio  than  that  of  production./ 

That  the  power  to  obtain  food  in  return  to  labour  diminished  greatly 
between  1835  and  1839  must  be  within  the  recollection  of  all  who  were 
familiar  with  the  events  of  that  period.  Never  has  there  been  experienced 
in  this  country  so  much  anxiety  relative  to  the  result  of  the  harvest  as  was  felt 
in  1838.  From  that  time,  the  tendency  to  dispersion  diminished ;  and,  in 
1839  and  1840,  labour  commanded  good  supplies  of  food,  as  is  obvious  from 
the  fact  that  immigration  rose,  attaining,  in  1841-2,  the  height  of  101,000. 
The  value  of  labour  and  food  had,  however,  by  that  time  greatly  fallen,  and, 

2  i  2 


402 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


in  1842,  it  fell  to  a  lower  point  than  had  been  known  for  twenty  years,  the 
consequence  of  which  was,  a  great  diminution  in  the  immigration  of  the  two 
succeeding  years.  Thence  to  1847,  the  increase  was  very  rapid  ;  but,  in  the 
following  year,  it  became  stationary,  and  is  now  falling  rapidly. 

We  may  now  proceed  to  the  next  great  article  of  food — 

SUGAR. 

Crop  of 


Foreign. 

Louisiana. 

Total. 

Per  head. 

1821  to  1S29 

57,000,000 

45,000,000 

102,000,000 

9 

1830  . 

.  96,000,000 

48,000,000 

144,000,000 

11 

1831 . 

69,000,000 

75,000,000 

144,000,000 

10  j 

1832  . 

.  48,000,000 

75,000,000 

123,000,000 

9 

1833  . 

97,000,000 

70,000,000 

167,000,000 

12 

1834  . 

.  115,000,000 

75,000,000 

190,000,000 

13 

1835  to  1841, 138,000.000  —  \ 

.  110,000,000 

77,000,000 

187,000,000 

iii 

1S42  and  1843 

.  114,000,000 

115,000,000 

229,000,000 

12i 

1844  . 

182,000,000 

105,000,000 

287,000,000 

15 

1845  . 

.  114,000,000 

200,000,000 

314,000,000 

16 

1846  . 

108,000,000 

186,000,000 

294,000,000 

14f 

1847  . 

.  232,000,000 

146,000,000 

372,000,000 

IS 

1848  . 

.  244,000,000 

240,000,000 

484,000,000 

23 

1849  .  .  .  .  i  . 

.  242,000,000 

220,000,000 

467,000,000 

21i 

We  see  here  a  rapid  increase  of  consumption  from  1829  to  1834,  and  that 
it  then  diminished  in  actual  amount  until  1844,  and  that  the  average  of 
1846-7  and  1847-8  was  but  little  less  than  double  that  of  1842-3.  The  power 
to  consume  foreign  sugar  has  kept  steady  pace  with  the  increase  in  the  home 
supply,  giving  a  total  consumption  for  the  year  1847-8  exceeding,  by  more 
than  150  per  cent.,  that  of  the  period  from  1821  to  1829,  and  almost  double 
that  of  1842  and  1843. 

The  power  of  producing  food  thus  kept  pace  with  the  power  to  apply 
labour  and  capital  to  the  conversion  of  food  and  other  raw  materials  into 
iron,  cloth,  and  other  commodities  requisite  for  the  use  of  man;  and 
thus  both  kept  pace  with  the  tendency  to  the  concentration  of  population. 
With  every  increase  in  the  power  of  production,  consumption  grew,  and  the 
labourer  received  larger  returns  for  his  labour,  producing  a  tendency  to 
immigration.  With  every  diminution  in  the  power  of  production,  the  power 
to  pay  for  foreign  commodities  diminished,  and  hence  it  was  that  the  early 
years  of  the  approach  to  freedom  of  trade  were  signalized  by  the  creation  of 
a  vast  debt,  the  interest  on  which  has  now  to  be  paid. 

*  INTERNAL  COMMERCE. 

We  may  now  examine  how  far  the  power  to  maintain  internal  trade  waxed 
or  waned  with  the  increased  or  diminished  power  of  production,  for  which 
purpose,  I  give  the  tolls  on  the  three  principal  routes  between  the  east  and 
west,  and  the  tonnage  that  passed  through  the  Louisville  and  Portland  Canal. 
In  examining  them  it  will  be  proper  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  receipts  from 
immigrants  from  Europe,  in  the  last  two  years,  have  been  prodigious,  not¬ 
withstanding  which  there  has  been  a  large  decrease  in  the  two  from  which  I 
have  been  able  to  obtain  complete  returns.  It  follows,  of  course,  that  the 
receipts  from  merchandise  have  greatly  diminished  in  their  ratio  to  popula¬ 
tion.  Should  immigration  continue  to  fall  off,  the  deficiency  in  the  receipts 
from  these  works  will  become  of  serious  importance  to  the  treasuries  of  both 
New  York  and  Pennsylvania. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


403 


TOLLS. 


New  York 

Per  1000  of 

Baltimore 
and  Ohio 

Per  1000  of 

Penn. 

P.  1000  of 

Ton’ge, 
L.  &  P. 

Canal. 

population. 

Railroad. 

population. 

Canals. 

population. 

Canal. 

1826, 

1827, 

1828, 

1829, 

1830, 

1831, 

1832, 

1833, 

1834, 

$844,000 

880,000 

829,000 

815,000 

1,042,000 

748,000 

1,112,000 

1,388,000 

$73 

74 

68 

65 

81 

56 

81 

98 

$31,000 

137,000 

196,000 

205,000 

9-9 

13-9 

148,000 

10-5 

76,000 

70,000 

170,000 

1,381,000 

95 

14-1 

306,000 

21*1 

162,000 

1835, 

1,482,000 

99 

263,000 

17*6 

679,000 

45-4 

200,000 

1836-41 

1,655,000 

102 

349,000 

21-5 

1,020,000 

60-7 

223,000 

1842, 

1,749,000 

97 

426,000 

23-6 

903,000 

50-0 

172,000 

1843, 

2,081,000 

112 

575,000 

31-0 

1,014,000 

55-0 

232,000 

1844, 

2,446,000 

128 

658,000 

34-6 

1,164,000 

61-5 

304,000 

1845, 

2,646,000 

135 

718,000 

37-7 

1,154,000 

59-1 

318,000 

1846, 

2,756,000 

138 

881,000 

44-0 

1,357,000 

68-0 

341,000 

1847, 

3,635,000 

177 

1,101,000 

54-0 

1,587,000 

78 

307,000 

1848, 

3,252,000 

155 

1,213,000 

60-0 

1,550,000 

73-3 

341,000 

1849, 

3,266,000 

150 

1,241,000 

57-2 

1,580,000 

72-4 

The  Lake  tonnage  in  1834  was .  28,521  tons. 

In  1841  it  had  risen  to  only .  56,252 

1846  it  was  ........  106,836 

1847,  .  .  .  139,399 

1848,  .  166,400 


We  thus  see  while  it  increased  hut  28,000  tons  in  the  first  period  of  seven 
years,  it  has  gained  110,000  in  the  last,  and  nearly  all  of  this  since  1843. 
At  the  present  time  there  is  no  tendency  to  increase.  The  great  support  of 
this  trade  is  found  in  the  transport  of  immigrants,  and  any  diminution  therein 
must  he  followed  hy  a  diminution  in  the  tonnage. 

In  1842,  the  Steamboat  tonnage  on  the  western  rivers  was  hut  126,278, 
and  the  tendency  was  downward,  as  the  business  was  very  small,  as  may  he 
seen  from  the  number  of  trips  made  hy  certain  boats : — 

i 

Boats.  Trips.  Boats.  Trips. 

1839,  .  35  141  1841,  .  .  .32  .  .162 

1840,  ...  28  ..  147  1842,  ...  29  ..  88 


In  1846,  only  four  years  afterwards,  it  had  almost  doubled,  the  amount 
being  249,055.  In  the  two  succeeding  years  it  increased  rapidly,  as  may  he 
seen  by  the  following  statement  of  boats  built  at  Cincinnati : — 

1845-6,  5657  .tons.  |  1846-7,  8268  tons.  |  1847-8,  10,232  tons. 

In  the  last  year  the  tendency  has  been  downward;  the  boats  built  being 
only  7281  tons;  and  the  number  of  arrivals  being  only  3239,  against  4007 
in  the  previous  year. 

We  thus  meet  everywhere  the  same  results.  From  1835  to  1843,  scarcely 
any  increase;  but  from  that  date  every  thing  starts  into  life  and  grows  with 
rapidity.  Arrived  at  1848  and  1849,  all  tends  downwards,  notwithstanding 
the  great  increase  of  population. 


TRADE  OF  NEW  ORLEANS. 

The  value  of  the  principal  products  of  the  interior  received  at  New  Orleans, 
from  1841-2,  to  the  present  time,  has  been  as  follows : —  ' 


404  ..  THE  HARMONY 


Total. 

1841- 2,  ....  §45,716,045 

1842- 8,  ....  53,782,084 

1843- 4,  ....  60,094,716 

1844- 5,  ....  57,166,122 


OF  INTERESTS. 


Total. 

1845- 6,  ....  §77,193,464 

1846- 7,  ....  90,033,000 

1847- 8,  .  .  .  70,779,000 

1848- 9,  ....  81,889,000 


The  value  doubled  in  six  years,  but  it  is  now  falling,  notwithstanding  the 
large  increase  of  western  population  in  the  last  two  years. 


NEW  YORK 


Being  the  place  supposed  to  be  most  benefited  by  perfect  freedom  of  trade, 
we  may  profit  by  an  examination  into  the  effect  of  the  various  systems,  as 
exhibited  in  the  number  of  houses  built  in  that  city,  as  compared  with  the 
population  of  the  country,  of  which  it  is  the  commercial  capital.  The  ear¬ 
liest  account  I  have  been  able  to  obtain  is  that  of  1834 : — 


Per  million  of 


Houses  built.  population. 

1834,  .  .  877  .  .  60 

1885-41,  average,  943*  .  58 

1842,  .  912  .  .  50 

1843,  .  .  .  1273  .  .  69 

1844,  .  .  1210  .  .  64 


1845,  . 

1846, 

1847,  . 

1848, 


Per  million  of 

Houses  built.  population. 

1980  .  .  101 

.  1910  .  ..  95 

1823  .  .  90 

.  1191  .  .  60 


The  rapid  extension  of  Brooklyn  has  been  since  1842.  Had  it  been 
possible  to  obtain  a  similar  account  of  that  city,  which  is  but  a  suburb  of 
New  York,  the  difference  would  have  been  much  more  striking.  We  have 
here,  however,  all  that  is  needed  to  show  that  houses  in  New  York  grew  with 
the  growth  of  factories  and  furnaces,  and  diminished,  as  they  now  diminish, 
with  the  cessation  of  their  operations. 


PHILADELPHIA. 

It  is  deemed  desirable  to  give  the  movement  of  Philadelphia  as  the 
distributor  of  a  large  portion  of  the  coal  and  iron  of  the  Union,  and  as  the 
centre  of  an  important  portion  of  the  commerce  between  the  East  and  the 
West  •  but  it  is  impossible  to  obtain  the  number  of  houses  built,  because  of 
no  such  record  having  been  preserved,  by  several  of  the  districts,  until  quite 
recently,  and  to  give  the  movement  of  the  population  in  the  several  periods, 
it  is  necessary  to  take  the  returns  under  the  State  censuses,  which  are  septen¬ 
nial,  and  those  made  under  the  authority  of  the  federal  government,  which 
are  decennial.  The  former  returns  give  only  the  number  of  taxables,  but  by 
multiplying  them  by  five  the  population  was  always  found  to  be  nearly  ob¬ 
tained,  and  I  have  done  so  throughout,  although  it  is  said  that  the  proportion 
of  non-taxables  has  within  a  few  years  so  far  increased  as  to  make  it  neces¬ 
sary  to  multiply  by  five  and  a  half.  How  far  that  is  the  case  will  be  deter¬ 
mined  by  the  census  of  next  year. 

Ratio  to  population 
of  the  Union,  in 
Per  cent,  thousands  to  mil. 


Taxables. 

Population.  per  annum,  lions. 

1821. 

State  census 

27,892 

139,460 

15-3 

1828. 

tc 

37,313 

.  186,565  increase  4-9 

15-2 

1830. 

u.  s. 

• 

188,958  “  -6 

14-6 

1835. 

State 

U 

49,847 

249,235  “  6-6 

16-7 

1840. 

U.  S. 

cc 

•  •  • 

258,000  “  -8 

15-1 

1842. 

State 

C( 

51,063 

.  255,315  decrease  -5 

14-1 

1 849. 

(C 

cc 

77,285 

.  3S6,425  increase  7-4 

17-7 

*  Of  these  the  number  built  in  1835  and  1836,  before  the  Compromise  began  to  have 

much  effect,  was  greater  than  in  any  three  of  the  other  years. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


405 


It  appears  obvious  that  the  productive  power  of  the  country  diminished 
from  1835  to  1841,  and  still  more  rapidly  in  the  two  following  years;  and 
therefore  it  was  that  the  power  to  pay  for  foreign  commodities  diminished  so 
much  that  consumption  could  be  maintained  only  by  obtaining  goods  on 
credit,  to  be  paid  for  at  some  future  time,  and  bearing  interest  until  paid. 
The  following  table  will  show  the  value  of  exports,  being  the  amount  of 
merchandise  received  from  abroad  in  payment  for  merchandise  and  freights. 


Value  of  exports,  per  head. 

Debt  contracted. 

Debt  paid  off. 

1821,  to  1829, 

aver.,  $5 

* 

•  • 

• 

1830,  . 

4-32 

•  • 

•  • 

1831, 

.  .  6T0  . 

•  • 

• 

1832,  . 

5*51 

• 

•  • 

1833, 

.  6-20  . 

•  • 

• 

1834,  . 

7-08 

•  • 

•  • 

1835  to  1841, 

aver.,  6-02  . 

$170,000,000 

•  • 

• 

1842-3,  . 

.  4-48 

Interest  unpaid. 

•  • 

1844,  . 

5-03  . 

•  • 

.  Interest. 

1845, 

.  5-16 

•  • 

•  • 

1846,  . 

5-75  . 

• 

.  $5,000,000 

1847, 

.  7 

•  • 

•  • 

5,000,000 

1848,  . 

5-88  . 

8,000,000 

•  • 

• 

1849, 

.  5*19 

.  22,000,000 

•  • 

With  each  step  in  the  diminution  of  the  power  to 

produce, 

there  is  dimi- 

nished  power  of  purchase,  and  hence  the  necessity  for  obtaining  goods  on 
credit.  So  it  was  from  1835  to  1841,  and  the  result  was  almost  universal 
bankruptcy.  So  is  it  at  present,  and  the  goal  towards  which  we  are  moving 
would  seem  to  be  the  same.  The  amount  now  required  for  the  payment  of 
interest  is  about  $14,000,000  per  annum,  being  $2,000,000  more  than  was 
required  for  the  same  purpose  two  years  since. 

In  the  following  table  are  given  two  species  of  articles,  of  one  of  which 
(flax)  a  large  part  was  freed  from  duty  by  the  Compromise  tariff,  and  so  con¬ 
tinued  until  September,  1841,  while  the  other  was  subject  to  the  same  pro¬ 
visions  as  manufactures  of  other  kinds.  It  will  be  seen  how  small  is  the 
difference  of  movement,  proving  that  the  amount  of  importation  depends 
upon  the  power  to  import,  and  is  but  slightly  affected  by  the  question  of  duty. 


Manufactures 
of  flax. 

Per 

head. 

China  and 
earthenware. 

Per 

head. 

Sept.  30, 

1821-29,  average, 

.  $3,833,000 

29 

$1,160,000 

10 

CC  CC 

1830,  . 

3,011,000 

23£ 

1,259,000 

10 

CC  ll 

1831, 

.  3,790,000 

28£ 

.  1,624,000 

121 

CC  ll 

1832,  . 

4,073,000 

30 

2,024,000 

15 

cc  cc 

1833, 

.  3,132,000 

22 

.  1,818,000 

13 

cc  cc 

1834,  . 

5,485,000 

38 

1,591,000 

11 

cc  cc 

cc  cc 

1835-41, $6, 350, GOO- 
1842  to  1 

-]=5,080,000 

31 

1,950,000—]=1,560,000 

91 

June  30, 

1843,  }  average, 

2,900,000 

15£ 

.  1,300,000 

7 

CC  cc 

1844, 

.  4,492,000 

231 

1,632,000 

81 

cc  cc 

1845,  . 

4,923,000 

25 

.  2,166,000 

11 

cc  cc 

1846, 

.  4,972,000 

25 

2,201,000 

HI 

cc  cc 

1847,  . 

5,152,000 

25 

.  2,320,000 

11 

a  u 

1848,  $6,600,000- 

-J  =5,660,000 

27 

2,600,0  )0 — 1=2,228,000 

10 

cc  cc 

1849,  5,700,000 

-£=4,750,000 

22 

2,231,000—1  =  1,860,000 

81 

*  In  1829,  the  debt  of  the  Federal  Government  was  $58,000,000.  In  the  year  1833-4, 
it  was  reduced  to  $4,000,000,  and  in  the  following  year  to  $37,000.  As  much  of  this  was 
held  abroad,  the  amount  paid  off  in  this  period  was  probably  equal  to  that  of  States  and 
corporations  transmitted  abroad  at  the  same  time. 

Vol.  II.— 52 


406 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


We  see  here  the  importation  of  linens  increasing  under  the  tariff  of  18-8, 
diminishing  from  1835  to  1841,  and  still  further  diminishing  in  the  closing 
years  of  the  Compromise  tariff.  Thenceforward  it  rises  rapidly ,  notwith¬ 
standing  the  increasing  tendency  to  substitute  manufactures  of  cotton  for 

^In  regard  to  China  and  earthenware,  we  see  the  same  course  of  events. 

The  importation  rises  under  the  tariff  of  1828,  diminishes  under  the  Com- 

nromise  and  still  further  diminishes  in  1842-3,  when  it  begins  to  rise  u 

the  tariff  of  1842,  but  never  attains  the  same  height  as  in  the  previous  period. 

• 

FRENCH  MERCHANDISE. 

1822  to  1829,  average,  . 

1830, . 

1881, . 

1832,  . 

1833,  ...  • 

1834,  ...  • 

1835  to  1841,  average  25,200,000  — 

1842  and  1843,  average, 

1844,  . 

1845,  ..•••• 

1846,  ...*•• 

1847,  . 

1848,  .  .  •  28,000,000  -  \ 

1849’  23,233,000  —  i 

We  have  here  the  same  results  as  elsewhere.  The  commodities  we  receive 
from  France  are  almost  altogether  articles  of  luxury.  In  the  period  between 
1829  and  1834,  there  is  a  gradual  increase,  until,  in  1834,  th^ 
exceeds  by  fifty  per  cent,  the  average  from  1821  to  1829  |^cetor^^e 
the  amount  remains  almost  precisely  the  same  until  we  reach  184  . 
period  ending  June  30,  1843,  it  falls  to  the  level  of  fifteen  years  before. 
In  the  following  year,  it  begins  to  rise,  and,  by  1847,  attains  the  level  o 
1834.  In  1848  it  falls  to  $1-14.  In  1849,  the  amount,  paid  for ,  falls 

almost  to  the  level  of  1842—3. 

The  remarkable  part  of  this  table  is,  the  small  increase  produced  by  the 
abolition  of  duty  upon  silks,  and  the  fact  that  the  import  rapidly  increased 
after  the  duties  had  been  reimposed. 

TEA  AND  COFFEE. 

The  following  table  represents  the  quantities  of  tea  and  coffee  retained  for 
consumption  rather  than  the  actual  consumption  of  the  respective  years,  and 
the  great  irregularity  of  amount  is  more  apparent  than  real  it  is  nere 
shown,  that  the  average  consumption  of  tea  in  the  years  1833  an  , 

the  last  two  years  in  which  the  tariff  of  1828  was  in  activity ,  was  grea ei 
than  that  of  the  ensuing  ten  years,  and  that,  notwithstanding  te  g 
increase  of  population,  it  did  not  rise  above  that  quantity  until  1845 
coffee  the  consumption  per  head  was  little  greater  from  1835  to  1841  than 
the  average  of  1833-34. 


9,130,000 

Per  head. 

81  Silks  subject  to  duty. 

8,240,000 

64 

66 

14,737,000 

1-11 

66 

12,754,000 

92 

u 

13,962,000 

1-00 

Silks  free. 

17,557,000 

1*21 

66 

20,160,000 

1-24 

66 

14,500,000 

80 

Duties  reimposed. 

17,952,000 

94 

66 

22,069,000 

1-13 

66 

21,600,000 

1-08 

66 

24,900,000 

1-21 

66 

24,000,000 

1-14 

66 

66 

19,360,000 

90 

THE 

HARMONY 

OF  INTERESTS. 

407 

Tea. 

Per  head 

Coffee.  Per  head. 

1821  to 

1829, 

average,  pounds,  6,000,000 

•53 

pounds,  24,000,000 

2-13 

1830,  . 

i  • 

•  • 

.  6,800,000 

•53 

38,300,000 

3-00 

1831, 

• 

•  •  • 

4,600,000 

•35 

75,000,000 

5-60 

1832,  . 

• 

•  • 

.  8,600,000 

•63 

36,000,000 

2-60 

1833, 

• 

.  (Duty  free,)  12,900,000 

•91 

(Duty  free,)  75,000,000 

5-30 

.1834,  . 

•  • 

•  • 

13,100,000 

90 

44,000,000 

3-00 

1835  to 

1841, 

12,600,000  — 

10,080,000 

•62 

89,000,000  — 

■],  71,200,000 

4-40 

1842-1843, 

66 

13,000,000 

•71 

107,000,000 

5-60 

1844, 

66 

13,000,000 

•68 

149,000,000 

7-85 

1845, 

u 

17,100,000 

•88 

94,000,000 

4-82 

1846, 

ti 

16,800,000 

•84 

124,000,000 

6-20 

1847, 

66 

14,200,000 

•70 

152,000,000 

7-25 

1848, 

66 

21,000,000 

1-00 

145,000,000 

6-90 

1849 

66 

13,213,000 

•61 

151,000,000 

7-00 

The 

great 

question  to  be  settled  is- 

— u  Which  is  the  system  under 

which 

the  labourer  is  enabled  to  obtain  the  largest  quantity  of  food,  fuel,  clothing, 
machinery  of  production  and  transportation — protection  or  free  trade  V’ 
The  former  is  denounced  as  a  u  war  upon  labour  and  capital,”  and  yet  it 
seems  clear  that  the  power  to  consume  all  those  things  for  which  men  are 
willing  to  labour,  and  in  the  production  of  which  other  men  are  willing  to 
invest  capital,  was  greater  under  the  two  protective  tariffs  than  at  any  other 
period,  and  that  it  is  now  gradually,  but  certainly,  diminishing.  Wages  are 
falling,  and  the  result  is,  a  diminution  of  immigration,  and  an  increasing 
tendency  to  emigration,  both  accompanied  by  a  decrease  of  productive  power, 
to  be  followed  by  a  futher  decline  of  wages,  and  a  further  increase  of 
emigration.  Shipping  has  grown  with  immigration,  and  freights  have  fallen, 
but,  with  diminution  in  the  former,  the  latter  must  rise,  and  many  of  the 
commodities  that  we  have  recently  exported  will  have  to  remain  at  home, 
and  thus  there  will  be  a  diminished  power  of  importation,  accompanied  by 
a  diminution  of  the  public  revenue,  the  improvement  of  which  was  one  of 
the  objects  proposed  in  the  adoption  of  the  policy  of  1846.  How  the 
different  systems  have  thus  far  operated  upon  the  receipts  from  import  duties 
will  be  seen  by  an  examination  of  the  following  table. 

CUSTOMS  REVENUE, 


Derived  from  the  import  of  Merchandise  paid  for  with  our  Exports. 


1821  to  1829,  average,  ..... 

1830  to  1834,  ....... 

1835  to  1841,  average,  .  .  .  $17,170,000 

Less  one-fifth,  for  goods  bought  in  ex¬ 
change  for  certificates  of  debt,  .  3,404,300 


1842  and  1843,  .... 

•  • 

1843-4,  ...... 

• 

1844-5,  ..... 

•  • 

1845—6,  ...... 

26,712,000 

Add  duty  on  $5,000,000  of  debts  re- 

deemed,  .... 

1,500,000 

1846-7,  ..... 

23,747,000 

Add  duty  on  $5,000,000  of  debts  re- 

deemed,  .... 

1,500,000 

184/ -8,  ...... 

31,757,000 

Deduct  duty  on  the  amount  of  debt 

created,  say  $8,000,000, 

2,400,000 

1848-9,  ...... 

28,346,000 

Debt  created,  $22,000,000 — duty, 

6,600,000 

18,500,000 

24,000,000 


13,736,000 

16,400,000 

26,183,000 

27,528,000 


28,212,000 


25,247,000 


29,357,000 


21,746,000 


Per  head. 

1-69 

1-75 


0-84£ 

0-90 

1-38 

1-41 


1*41 


1-23 


1-40 


1-00 


408 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


It  is  here  seen,  that  the  importation  of  duty-paying  articles  increased  so 
much  under  the  tariff  of  1828,  that  the  revenue  per  head  was  greater  than 
in  the  previous  period,  although  the  duty  on  railroad  iron  and  on  tea  and 
coffee  was  abolished  in  1882.  The  case  would,  however,  appear  much 
stronger  were  allowance  made  for  the  movements  of  specie.  The  period 
from&1821  to  1829  was  one  of  great  exhaustion,  and  the  exports  of 
specie  exceeded  the  imports  by  an  average  of  almost  one  million  a  year ; 
whereas,  the  imports  of  the  following  period  exceeded  the  exports  by  an 
average  of  five  millions  a  year.  The  total  difference  is  therefore  six  millions 
a  year.  Had  this  been  imported,  as  in  the  previous  period,  in  the  form  of 
duty-paying  articles,  and  had  the  duties  on  tea  and  coffee  been  retained,  the 
revenue  would  have  exceeded  two  dollars  per  head. 

With  the  next  period,  we  find  a  g’reat  decrease  in  the  revenue,  indicating 
a  diminished  power  to  pay  for  foreign  merchandise,  resulting  from  dimin¬ 
ished  productiveness  in  the  application  of  labour  at  home. 

With  1842-3,  there  is  a  trifling  increase,  resulting  from  the  action  of  the 
tariff  of  1842,  which  was  in  operation  during  the  last  nine  months  of  this 
short  period. 

From  June,  1843,  to  June,  1846,  the  amount  rises  to  an  average  of 
$1*40,  and  maintains  itself  during  the  first  three  years  of  the  period.  The 
passage  of  the  act  of  August,  1846,  connected  with  the  warehousing  system, 
tended  to  reduce  the  amount  received  into  the  treasury  in  the  last  year  of 
this  period. 

With  1848,  we  find  the  average  maintained,  without,  however,  the  increase 
that  might  naturally  have  been  looked  for  in  consequence  of  the  great 
demand  for  breadstuffs,  consequent  upon  the  failure  of  the  potato-crop  in 
Ircl^-iid 

In  the  last  year  (1848-9),  being  the  second  in  which  the  tariff  of  1846 
was  in  action,  the  amount  of  revenue  derived  from  merchandise  paid  for  by 
our  exports  has  greatly  declined. 

In  comparing  the  receipts  under  the  tariff  of  1842  with  those  of  that  of 
1828,  it  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind,  that,  in  the  latter  period,  before  mer¬ 
chandise  could  be  purchased,  there  was  a  sum  of  ten  millions  of  dollars  to 
be  provided  for  payment  of  interest  on  the  debt  incurred  in  the  free  trade  one. 
At  thirty  per  cent.,  that  would  have  given  three  millions  of  dollars,  or  about 
fifteen  cents  per  head. 

The  total  amount  of  interest  now  to  be  paid  is  about  fourteen  millions  of 
dollars,  and  this  claim  must  be  discharged  by  our  exports  before  merchandise 
can  be  purchased :  the  consequence  of  which  must  be,  a  great  deficiency  in 
future  revenue. 

With  these  facts  before  us,  we  may  now  examine  the  different  revenue 
systems  that  have  been  presented  for  consideration  and  adoption.  By  the 
English  school  it  is  held  that,  as  cultivation  first  commences  on  the 
richest  soils,  agricultural  labour  is  then  largely  paid,  and  the  diversion  of 
any  portion  of  the  population  to  mechanical  pursuits  is  attended  with  loss. 
Observation,  however,  shows  that  the  first  cultivator  commences,  invariably, 
on  the  poorer  soils,  and  that  the  rich  lands  of  river  bottoms,  the  underlying 
beds  of  marl,  limestone,  &c.,  are  only  brought  into  cultivation  at  a  later 
period.  The  English  school  holds  that  mechanical  labour  must  necessarily, 
because  of  the  abundance  of  fertile  land  and.  consequent  profitable  appli¬ 
cation  of  labour,  be  dearer  in  a  new  than  in  an  old  country,  and  that 
competition  can  be  maintained  only  by  aid  of  laws  restricting  importation. 
It  holds  that  double  loss  results  from  such  restriction,  labour  being  with¬ 
drawn  from  the  profitable  pursuit  of  agriculture  to  be  given  to  the  com¬ 
paratively  unprofitable  one  of  converting  agricultural  products  into  the 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


409 


various  commodities  required  for  the  use  of  man :  also,  that  these  per¬ 
sons,  thus  unprofitably  employed,  are  maintained  out  of  taxes  imposed 
upon  the  consumers  of  their  commodities,  and  that  every  dollar  paid  to  the 
government  on  the  import  of  articles,  in  part  manufactured  at  home,  is 
accompanied  by  the  payment  of  five,  ten,  fifteen,  or  twenty  dollars  paid  to  a 
selected  class,  thus  living  by  taxation  imposed  on  their  neighbours  for  their 
support.  This  idea  may  be  found  fully  carried  out  in  a  report  of  the  late 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  for  1846.  It  is  there  shown,  that  all  the  coal 
consumed  in  the  Union  costs  the  consumer  $1-60  more  than  it  would  do 
under  a  system  of  free  trade,  although  the  average  price  of  all  the  coal  sold 
at  Pittsburgh,  Wilkesbarre,  Mauch  Chunk  and  Pottsville  did  not,  at  that 
moment,  exceed  $1-50. 

To  relieve  the  consumer  from  this  double  taxation,  the  English  school 
holds  that  all  duties  for  revenue  should  be  imposed  upon  articles  that  cannot 
be  produced  in  the  country,  such  as  tea,  coffee,  &e.,  and  that  all  those  that 
can  be  produced  in  it,  should  be  admitted  free.  Such  is  the  theory  that 
dictated  the  tariff  of  1846,  and  the  subsequent  efforts  to  amend  it  by  the 
imposition  of  a  duty  on  tea  and  coffee. 

The  other  school  holds  that  articles  which  can  be  produced  at  home  should 
be  protected,  while  those  which  cannot  should  be  admitted  free  of  all  duty, 
and  such  was  the  view  which  prompted  the  abolition  of  all  duties  on  tea 
and  coffee,  by  the  act  of  1832. 

By  the  working  of  the  two  systems,  their  value  is  to  be  judged.  In  the 
first  eighteen  months  of  the  tariff  of  1832,  tea  and  coffee  were  admitted  free 
of  duty,  with  a  loss  to  the  revenue  of  nearly  three  and  a  half  millions  of 
dollars  per  annum,  to  which  was  to  be  added  a  great  loss  of  duty  on  silks, 
also  free ;  but  the  protection  of  manufactures  generally  was  maintained,  and 
the  consumption  of  foreign  merchandise  liable  to  duty  continued  so  great, 
that  the  revenue  increased  more  rapidly  than  the  population.  In  the 
succeeding  period,  protection  gradually  diminished,  with  a  certainty  of  its 
total  disappearance  as  the  Compromise  bill  should  come  fully  into  action,  and 
the  productiveness  of  labour  became  so  far  diminished,  that  the  payment 
into  the  Treasury  for  duties  on  foreign  merchandise  fell  to  an  average  of 
less  than  one-half  of  what  it  had  been  from  1829  to  1834. 

With  the  tariff  of  1842,  it  rose  gradually,  and  with  a  steady  upward 
tendency ;  while,  as  that  of  1846  comes  into  operation,  there  is  a  movement 
directly  the  reverse. 

PUBLIC  EXPENDITURE. 

When  men  live  in  connection  with  each  other,  they  are  enabled  to  protect 
themselves,  and  have  little  need  of  fleets  or  armies  for  their  protection.  A 
few  officers  can  then  perform  the  duties  incident  to  the  maintenance  of 
government.  They  then  exercise,  in  a  high  degree,  the  power  of  self- 
government. 

When  they  are  widely  separated  from  each  other,  they  are  unable  to 
protect  themselves,  and  have  need  of  fleets  and  armies  for  their  protection. 
Many  officers  are  then  required  for  the  performance  of  the  duties  of  govern¬ 
ment,  and  the  power  of  self-government  is  diminished. 

With  the  increase  of  fleets  and  armies,  and  of  government  officials,  the  cost 
of  government  is  increased. 

The  policy  of  1828,  and  that  of  1842,  tended,  as  we  have  seen,  to  concen¬ 
tration  of  population  and  combination  of  exertion,  and,  therefore,  to  increase 
in  the  power  of  self-government.  That  of  1833  tended,  and  that  of  1846 
tends,  as  has  been  seen,  to  dispersion  of  population  and  diminution  in  the 
power  of  combination,  and,  consequently,  to  diminution  in  the  power  of  self- 


410 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


government.  What  has  been  the  effect  of  the  two  systems  on  the  public 
expenditure  I  propose  now  to  show.  The  true  u  war  upon  labour  and 
capital/'  is  that  which  increases  the  cost  of  government,  and  thus  diminishes 
the  power  to  accumulate  capital,  to  be  used  in  aid  of  labour.  Every  step 
towards  diminution  in  the  expenditure  for  that  purpose  tends  to  raise  wages; 
and  every  one  tending  towards  its  increase,  tends  equally  towards  diminution 
in  the  power  of  both  labourer  and  capitalist  to  command  the  necessaries, 
conveniences,  or  luxuries  of  life. 

From  1821  to  1829,  the  total  expenditure  of  the  government, 
exclusive  of  payments  on  account  of  debts  previously  existing, 
was  $117,000,000,  being  an  average  of  ....  $13,000,000 

From  October,  1829,  to  October,  1834,  the  period  of  the 
tariff  of  1828,  the  total  expenditure,  exclusive  of  such  pay¬ 
ments,  was  84,000,000,  being  an  average  of  .  .  .  .  16,800,000 

From  October,  1834,  to  October,  1841,  the  period  of  the 
Compromise,  during  which  we  colonized  Texas  and  Oregon,  the 
total  expenditure  was  $223,000,000.  In  this  period  there  were 
no  payments  on  account  of  the  old  debt,  the  whole  having  been 
extinguished  at  the  close  of  1834.  The  average  of  this  period 
of  dispersion  was  ........  31,700,000 

From  October,  1841,  to  June  30,  1843,  was  a  period  of 
exhaustion,  and  the  wants  of  the  government  were  such  as 
precluded  expenditure.  The  average  was  ....  20,400,000 

That  of  1843-4  was  .......  20,600,000 

That  of  1844-5,  .  .  .  .  .  ...  21,400,000 

With  1845-6,  we  recommence  the  system  of  dispersion. 

The  occupation  of  Texas  had  brought  with  it  war  with  Mexico, 
and  the  expenditure  rose  to  .  .  26,800,000 

In  1846-7,  dispersion  increased,  and  large  armies  were  sent 
to  Mexico  for  the  purpose  of  compelling  the  cession  of  Cali¬ 
fornia,  the  consequence  of  which  was  that  the  expenditure  rose 
to  ..........  59,400,000 

In  1847-8,  it  was .  45,000,000 

And  a  large  amount  remained  unsettled. 

In  1848-9, .  46,798,000 

As  a  necessary  consequence  of  this  system,  the  public  debt,  which  was 
extinguished  under  the  system  of  concentration,  grew  rapidly  under  that  of 
dispersion,  to  be  again  diminished  under  that  of  concentration,  and  now  again 
increased  under  that  of  dispersion. 


PUBLIC  DEBT. 


1821, 

$89,987,428 

1829, 

58,421,414 

Decrease  in  eight  years, 

$31,566,014 

1834, 

4,760,082 

“  five  years, 

53,661,332 

1834-5, 

37,733 

Extinguished. 

1841, 

6,737,398 

Increase  in  five  years, 

6,737,398 

June  30,  1843, 

26,898,958 

“  two  years, 

20,161,560 

“  1845, 

17,093,794 

Decrease  in  two  years, 

9,805,164 

“  1848, 

48,526,379 

Increase  in  three  years, 

31,433,585 

“  1849, 

64,704,693 

“  one  year, 

16,178,314 

CREDIT. 

With  every  step  in  the  diminution  of  debt,  credit  grows ;  with  every  one 
in  the  increase  thereof,  credit  diminishes. 

The  policy  of  1828  increased  production  and  raised  wages.  The  power  to 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


411 


* 

pay  for  foreign  commodities  was  great,  and  the  revenue  was  large,  the  conse¬ 
quence  of  which  was  the  extinction  of  the  public  debt,  at  the  close  of  1834. 
Credit  was  therefore  high. 

The  policy  of  1832-3  diminished  production  and  lowered  wages.  Credit 
was  high,  and  we  obtained  cloth  and  iron  in  exchange  for  certificates  of  debt; 
the  consequence  of  which  was,  that,  at  the  close  of  1841,  the  foreign  debt 
was  two  hundred  millions,  much  of  the  interest  of  which  we  were  unable  to  pay. 

Under  the  Revenue  tariff  of  1841—2,  public  and  private  revenue  almost 
disappeared,  and  bankruptcy  and  repudiation  were  the  necessary  consequence. 

Under  the  tariff  of  1842,  production  increased  and  wages  rose.  The 
power  to  pay  for  foreign  commodities  increased,  public  and  private  revenue 
grew,  and  we  commenced  to  diminish  our  debt,  the  consequence  of  which 
was  the  perfect  re-establishment  of  credit. 

Under  the  tariff  of  1846,  production  diminishes  and  wages  have  fallen. 
The  power  to  pay  for  foreign  commodities  is  diminishing,  and  we  are  again 
buying  cloth  and  iron,  and  settling  for  them  with  certificates  of  debt,  the 
amount  of  which  transmitted  to  Europe  in  the  two  years  ending  June  30, 
1849,  is  estimated  at  thirty  millions  of  dollars;  all  of  which  we  have,  in 
that  time  eaten  and  drunk,  and  used,  but  have  yet  to  pay  for. 

With  a  view  to  present  at  a  glance  the  results  obtained  by  this  examina¬ 
tion  of  the  policy  of  the  Union,  I  give  the  following  diagrams,  in  which  the 
movement  under  the  various  systems  is  distinctly  shown. 

No.  I.  gives  the  nine  years  from  1821  to  1829,  when  the  tariff  of  1828 
came  into  operation. 

No.  II. — The  years  of  the  protective  tariff  of  1828,  from  1829  to  1834. 

No.  III. — Those  of  the  Compromise  tariff,  from  1834  to  1841.  In  this 
case,  it  will  be  observed  that  I  have  in  all  cases  deducted  from  the  con¬ 
sumption  of  imported  commodities  one-fifth,  that  being  the  quantity  obtained 
in  exchange  for  certificates  of  debt. 

No.  IY. — This  represents  the  movement  under  the  strictly  revenue  clauses 
of  the  Compromise  tariff.  In  some  cases,  as  will  be  seen,  one  year,  and  in 
others  two  years  are  included  in  this  period.  The  returns  for  coal,  railroad 
and  canal  tolls,  &c.,  are  made  from  the  civil  year,  whereas  those  connected 
with  commerce  are  made  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30.  The  effect  of 
taking  one  year,  is  to  throw  into  No.  III.,  the  period  of  the  Compromise,  one- 
half  portion  of  this  period,  and.  the  other  portion  into  No.  V.,  the  period  of 
the  tariff  of  1842. 

No.  Y.— The  tariff  of  1842. 

No.  YI.— That  of  1846. 

In  the  diagram  representing  the  movements  of  iron,  coal,  cottons  and 
woollens,  the  consumption  is  given  in  two  sets  of  lines ;  one  representing  the 
domestic  products  consumed,  and  the  other  the  total  quantity.  An  examina¬ 
tion  of  the-m  will  show,  that  the  amount  of  consumption  is  dependent  upon 
that  of  domestic  production,  and  that  any  deficiency  therein  is  never  compen¬ 
sated  by  increase  of  importation,  as  it  should  be,  if  the  theory  is  true  upon 
which  the  tariff  of  1846  is  based. 

Consumption  of  Iron,  Foreign  100 

and  Domestic,  in  pounds  per  90 

head  of  the  population.  (See  70 

page  390.)  g 

40 

...  .  39 

Total,  20 

Domestic,  iq 

Railroad  iron  was  exempted  from  duty  in  the  third  year  of  the  second  period,  and  from 
that  time  consumption  ceased  to  increase. 


i.  n.  m.  iv.  v.  vi. 


412 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


Consumption  of  Coal,  Foreign 
and  Domestic,  in  tons  per 
thousand  of  population.  (See 
page  392.) 


160 

150 

MO 

130 

120 

110 

100 

90 

SO 

70 

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 


ii.  in.  iv.  v.  vi 

Average.^ _ tBgHllBlgllBAverageJ||  WBBEgg 

— 


. . . . jaSSHHBH0!EBS!i__._J 

fflBaBHaBHHBaBBgBBaBlBlBBBBBBBa 

mmmmmmmmamaarn  ESBSfSI?*®  1  Sm 

■c!ssaa»iaBBBiSisaa«BaB| 

ISflBSHHB!  BSBSB  EifflaSHUSJ  B  S?8araE?5S 
l||jM|MMgi|g|ggagg|gggg|g 

isasBaigiljilgail 


■iiiiliii 

— ■ 


mm 


Consumption  of  Cotton 
Goods,  Foreign  and  Dom. 
in  pounds  per  head  of  the 
population.  (See  page  894.) 

Total, 

Domestic, 


Consumption  of 
Foreign  &  Dom., 
head  of  population. 


Woollens, 
in  lbs.  per  B 
(Seep.  396.)  4ii 

Total, 

4 

Domestic,  31^ 
3 


Production  of  Lead,  in  thou- 
sands  of  pigs.  (See  page  397.) 

400 

300 

200 

100 


Population,  as  shown  in  the 

increase  of  immigration,  in 
thousands.  (See  page  397.) 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS 


413 


Shipping  Built,  in  tons ,  per 
thousand  of  population.  (See 
page  398.) 


Comparative  View  of  the 
Movement  of  Immigration 
and  Shipping,  in  thousands. 
(See  page  398.) 


Shipping, 


Immigration, 


320 

310 

300 

290 

2S0 

270 

260 

250 

240 

230 

220 

210 

200 

190 

180 

170 

ieo 

150 

140 

130 

120 

no 

100 

90 

80 

70 

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 


lAu'ijje. 

KraaBMHHHnMBIMSBBHBaBBaHlBB 

i«i«aaHaBBBia  aannan  ■■■cnae  nmamm 

l«SSSBPfiBSSnMn«HMHHMMI 


BBnBRBBBBBa BBBBBBBBBBBBB HUBBB 

iiiiiiiiiiiiii^^^aa 


BBHsauftii  mimm* 


SSSiSSSlIB 

^S3&H!93K2®aaBBSS£BEI  liSSRSBBfl  BUBR& 
ffiBBBBSBBBBgi  S3HBHBB  BHBBBBa  BBBBB 


Number  of  Steamers  built, 

per  million  of  population.  (See 
page  398.) 


180 

170 

160 

150 

140 

130 

120 

110 

100 

90 

80 

70 

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 


Texas  and 
Oregon. 


BffiBNIRHBS 

IBMBM  Mexico 

KSH^fSSf  &Caii- 

nBnd  forma. 


igeiBM«aainsaH 


Depopulation,  as  shown  in  the 
occupation  of  Public  Lands, 

as  compared  with  immigra¬ 
tion.  (See  page  399.) 


Vol.  H.  53 


2  k  2 


414 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


Production  of  Grain,  in  bush¬ 
els  per  head  of  'population.  (See 
page  400.) 


!•  II.  HI.  IV.  V.  VI. 


43 

42 

41 

40 

39 

38 

37 

36 

35 

34 

33 

32 

31 

30 

29 

28 

27 

26 

25 

24 


[j  A.'.-ra J 

■n 

jg^a- 

iRHBBBBBan 

I  I  IlHiq 

SiiiliiiS 

HBBB9HIB  BBHBB  BBBBE918B?  I 


SH2SSSSaSBSHaSBHHEffl®E 


mmm 


Production  and  Consump¬ 
tion  of  Sugar,  Foreign 
and  Domestic,  in  pounds 
per  head  of  population.  (See 
page  402.) 


Total, 


Domestic, 

Tolls  on  the  New  York 
CANALSm  dollars  per  thou¬ 
sand  of  population.  (See 
page  403.) 


Tolls  on  Pennsylvania  Pub¬ 
lic  Works,  in  dollars  per 
thousand  of  population.  (See 
page  403.) 


80 

75 

70 

65 

60 

55 

50 

45 

40 


Trade  on  Louisville  and 
Portland  Canal,  in  thou¬ 
sands  of  tons  (See  page  403.) 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


415 


Lake  Tonnage,  in  thousands 
of  tons.  (See  page  403.) 


in.  iv.  v.  vi. 


mm  brsbebii  bb  hibbs  i 

1»B  HSHBSiSHSaii  50*353  W 
IBBHBBBSSBBBBHEBaBBISHB 

IBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB 


Western  Steamboat  Tonnage,  260 
in  thousands  of  tons.  (See 240 
page  403.)  ‘  S 


Value  of  Produce  received 
at  New  Orleans,  in  millions 
of  dollars.  (See  page  404.) 


Houses  Built  in  New  York, 
per  million  of  population.  (See 
page  404). 


Population  of  Philadel¬ 
phia,  in  thousands. 


Ratio  of  Philadelphia  to 
the  Population  of  the 
Union,  in  thousands  to  mil¬ 
lions.  (See  page  404.) 


380 


340 

32U 

300 

280 

260 

240 

220 

200 

180 

160 

140 


iBnamei 


mm  wmm  mm 

ISbbS  1811b  iiiiili  iiiiiiil 

BBBBB  BBBBB  BBBBBBfSBBl  BBBB  BD 
BBBB  BBBBB  BSSSBBS  SB  BBBB  SB 


BSBBBBBBBBBBBBB^^^^^M 
■MM  ■■■■■  HflBBflllBI  SB  MUSS  BB 

BBBBB  BBBBB  BBBBBBB  BB  BBBB  BB 


Value  of  Exports,  per  head 
of  population  in  dollars.  (See 
page  404.) 


416 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


I.  II.  III.  IY.  V.  Yl. 

220  Foreign  Debt,  in  millions 
210  dollars.  (See  page  404.) 

190 
180 
170 
160 
150 
140 
130 
120 
110 
100 
90 
80 
70 
60 
50 
40 
30 
20 


9 

i.  n.  m.  iy.  v.  vi. 

Imports  of  Foreign  Woollens, 

paid  for  by  our  exports ,  in  cents  ^ 
per  head  of  the  population.  60 
(See  page  395.)  4° 


Imports  of  Foreign  Cotton 
GOODS,  paid  for  by  our  exports , 
in  cents  per  head  of  the  popula¬ 
tion.  (See  page  394.) 

Of  the  four  next  following,  the  first  two,  French  Merchandise  and  Manu¬ 
factures  of  flax,  were  in  a  great  degree  , freed  from  duty  in  1832,  silks  and 
linens  being  declared  absolutely  free.  The  duty  was  reimposed  in  1841.  The 
others,  Tea  and  Coffee,  were  free  from  duty  in  1832,  and  so  remain.  The  first 
two  are  given  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  showing  how  small  is  the  increase  of 
consumption  consequent  upon  a  remission  of  duty,  compared  with  that  which, 
in  every  case,  we  have  seen  to  follow  the  production  of  a  commodity  at  home. 

French  Merchandise,  paid  for 
in  cents  per  head  of  the  popu¬ 
lation.  (See  page  405.) 


Manufactures  of  Flax,  in 
cents  per  head  of  the  popula¬ 
tion.  (See  page  405.) 


Consumption  of  Tea,  in  hun¬ 
dredths  of  pounds  per  head  of  90 
the  popidation.  (See  page  ^ 
406.)  so 

'  50 

40 

30 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS 


417 


V 

Consumption  of  Coffee,  in 
pounds  per  head  of  the  popu¬ 
lation.  (See  page  406.) 


Revenue  from  Customs,  in 
cents  per  head  of  the  papula-  j™ 
turn.  (See  page  407.)  jjo 

130 

120 

110 

100 

90 

80 


1821—29  1830  1835  1842  1846 

— 34  —41  —45  —49 

eo  Public  Expenditure,  in  mil- 
50  lions  of  dollars.  (See  page 
X  409.)  ' 

35 
30 
25 
20 
15 
10 


Public  Debt,  in  millions  of 
dollars.  (See  page  410.) 


National  Credit,  in  millions 
of  dollars.  (See  page  410.) 


220 

210 

200 

190 

180 

170 

160 

150 

140 

130 

120 

110 

100 

90 

80 

70 

60 

60 

40 

30 

30 

10 

0 


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POSTSCRIPT. 


Since  this  Chapter  was  first  printed,  the  author  has  obtained  materials  for 
filling  up  sundry  blanks  in  relation  to  the  past  year,  which  has  now  been 
done.  He  has  also  been  enabled  to  correct  several  errors;  to  one  of  which, 
as  it  occurred  in  the  first  edition,  he  desires  to  call  the  attention  of  the  reader 
— that  in  relation  to  the  domestic  production  of  sugar. 

Few  persons  who  have  not  experienced  it  can  form  an  idea  of  the  difficulty 
of  obtaining  accurate  information  upon  many  of  the  subjects  here  referred  to. 
Scarcely  any  two  accounts  of  the  movement  of  cotton,  at  home  and  abroad, 
can  be  made  to  correspond  with  each  other.  In  different  Nos.  of  the  same 
journal,*  published  on  the  spot,  and  usually  very  accurate,  the  sugar  crop  of 
various  years  is  stated  thus  differently : — 


115,000 

87,000 

90,000 


119,947 

120,000 

125,000 


1889 

1840 

1841 


The  chief  cause  of  the  error  was,  however,  the  difference  between  the  mode 
of  denominating  different  crops.  That  of  sugar  for  1847-8  is  known  as  the 
crop  of  1847.  The  crop  of  cotton  for  the  same  period  is  known  as  that  of 
1848.  The  fiscal  and  cotton  years  1848  are  precisely  the  same  as  the  sugar 
year  1847;  and  those  who  undertake  to  compare  the  various  years  without  a 
knowledge  of  the  fact,  may  easily  be  led  astray. 

Again,  the  official  copy  of  the  Treasury  Report  of  1846,  gives  the  imports 
consumed  in  the  United  States,  exclusive  of  specie,  at  $127,490,012 

In  another  copy,  recently  received,  this  is  corrected  to  read  140,631,206 
And  such  it  is  understood  to  be  the  amount.  In  the  paper  published  in 
December,  the  first  was  used;  but  the  error  is  now  corrected.  When  such 
mistakes  occur  in  official  documents,  it  \^jll  readily  be  seen  how  difficult  is 
the  task  of  collecting  the  real  facts  of  the  case. 

Wherever  error  exists,  either  in  what  has  been,  or  is  now  being  published, 
the  author  will  feel  indebted  to  those  who  may  favour  him  by  pointing  it  out. 
His  object  is  that  of  finding  the  truth,  not  that  of  publishing  falsehood. 


*  De  Bow’s  Commercial  Review. 


tl)c  poitgl},  tl)c  £00111,  anb  !l)e  &nmt. 


Vol.  II.  FEBRUARY,  1850.  No.  YIII. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS: 

AGRICULTURAL,  MANUFACTURING,  AND  COMMERCIAL. 

BY  H.  C.  CAREY. 


CHAPTER  FOURTH. 

HOW  PROTECTION  TENDS  TO  INCREASE  PRODUCTION  AND  CONSUMPTION. 

Two  systems  are  before  the  world :  on  the  one  hand,  that  which  is  de¬ 
nominated  protection,  and  on  the  other  that  which  is  denominated  free-trade. 
Each  claims  to  he  the  one  under  which  the  labourer  receives  the  largest  re¬ 
ward  for  his  exertions,  and  it 'is  for  the  purpose  of  testing  the  validity  of  those 
claims  that  I  have  given  the  numerous  tables  contained  in  the  last  chapter, 
by  aid  of  which  I  now  propose  to  examine  this  question  in  its  bearings  on  the 
various  portions  of  society.  It  is  the  great  one  for  the  Union,  for  in  it  are 
included  all  others.  The  discord  now  existing  between  the  North  and  the 
South  has  its  origin  in  the  diminished  value  of  the  returns  to  slave  labour. 
If  it  can  be  shown  that  by  one  and  the  same  system  the  interests  of  the  North 
and  the  South,  the  free  and  the  enslaved,  can  be  promoted,  harmony  may 
take  the  place  of  discord.  The  differences  in  regard  to  internal  improve¬ 
ments  by  aid  of  the  general  government  have  their  origin  in  a  necessity  for 
scattering  ourselves  prematurely  over  large  surfaces.  If  it  can  be  shown  that 
by  one  and  the  same  system  the  North,  the  South,  the  East,  and  the  West, 
can  be  enriched,  and  all  enabled  to  make  roads  for  themselves,  harmony  may 
be  restored.  The  discords  so  frequently  existing  between  the  employer  and 
the  employed,  the  capitalist  and  the  labourer,  the  banker  and  his  customers, 
may  all,  as  I  think,  be  traced  to  one  and  the  same  cause,  and  if  that  can  be 
removed,  harmony  and  good  feeling  may  be  restored  and  maintained.  Every 
question  affecting  the  peace  and  tranquillity  of  the  Union,  or  the  people  of  the 
Union,  will  be  settled  whenever  we  shall  have  determined  for  ourselves  the 
one  great  question — u  Which  is  the  system  under  which  the  labourer  obtains 
the  largest  reward  for  his  labour  V’  When  that  shall  come  to  be  done,  it 
will  be  seen  that  there  is  a  perfect  harmony  of  interests  throughout  the  Union, 
and  among  all  its  people. 

Before  proceeding  further,  I  would  urge  upon  the  reader  a  careful  examina¬ 
tion  of  those  tables,  bearing  always  in  mind  the  precise  position  of  the  ques¬ 
tion  that  is  to  be  discussed.  It  is  admitted  by  a\l  that  protection  tends  to 
increase  the  domestic  production  of  the  commodity  protected.  That,  there¬ 
fore,  does  not  require  to  be  proved.  It  is  asserted  that  protection  tends  to 
raise  the  price  of  the  protected  article  and  to  diminish  the  power  of  consuming 
it,  whereas  the  removal  of  protection  diminishes  its  cost  and  increases  the  power 
of  consumption.  That  is  denied,  and  that  it  is  which  requires  to  be  proved. 
If  this  assertion  be  true,  then  the  power  of  consumption  must  diminish  with 
protection.  We  see,  however,  that  the  consumption  of  iron,  of  coal,  of 
cotton,  and  of  wool,  increased  with  great  rapidity  in  the  years  between  1830 
and  1834,  and  in  those  from  1843  to  1847.  If  it  be  true,  the  quantity 
of  men  and  things  passing  on  the  roads  and  canals,  and  the  number  of  ex¬ 
changes  to  be  performed  in  our  cities,  should  diminish  with  protection, 

Voi.  II.— 58  •  *  1 


2  * 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


whereas  they  increased  with  great  rapidity  in  both  of  the  above-named 
periods.  If  it  be  true,  then  it  must  reduce  the  wages  of  labour,  and  thus 
diminish  the  inducements  for  foreigners  to  come  among  us  and  occupy  our 
vacant  lands,  whereas  immigration  increased  with  great  rapidity  under  both 
protective  tariffs.  If  it  be  true,  then  it  must  diminish  our  power  to  trade 
with  foreign  nations,  and  the  inducements  to  build  ships,  whereas  shipping 
grew  with  great  rapidity  in  both  those  periods. 

If,  now,  we  examine  the  period  between  1834  and  1843,  it  is  impossible 
to  avoid  being  struck  with  the  fact  that  the  power  to  consume  foreign  pro¬ 
ducts  not  only  did  not  increase  as  domestic  production  diminished  with  the 
approach  to  free  trade,  but  that  it  was  actually  less  in  quantity  than  under 
the  system  of  protection.  The  building  of  furnaces  and  rolling-mills  was 
stopped,  yet  we  consumed  less  foreign  iron  than  before.  So  was  it  with 
cotton  goods,  the  import  of  wbich  fell  from  above  fifty  millions  of  yards 
down  to  eight  millions.-  We  killed  off  our  sheep,  but  the  importation.  of 
foreign  cloth  diminished.  We  prevented  increase  in  the  domestic  consumption 
of  cotton,  but  shipping  did  not  grow  with  the  increased  necessity  for  depending 
on  foreign  markets.  We  adopted  a  course  that  we  were  assured  would  raise 
the  wages  of  labour,  but  immigration  ceased  to  grow.  So  is  it  now.  The 
building  of  cotton-mills  is  stopped,  but  our  whole  import  of  last  year,  in 
which  we  incurred  a  debt  of  twenty-two  millioms,  but  little  exceeded  a  pound 
per  head.  We  have  closed  furnaces  and  rolling-mills,  but  we  consume  far  less 
iron  than  before.  We  have  abolished  the  system  that  was  regarded  as  “a 
war  upon  labour  and  capital,”  yet  immigration  is  diminishing  and  there  is  no 
demand  for  capital.  Steam-engines  are  idle,  and  there  is  no  demand  for  new 
ones,  except  for  a  few  steam-vessels.  Railroad  tolls  are  diminishing,  and  steam¬ 
boats  on  the  Western  waters  are  idle.  Iron  is  low  in  price,  but  it  is  not 
wanted.  So  is  coal.  So  are  cottons  and  woollens.  So  is  almost  every  de¬ 
scription  of  merchandise.  The  power  of  consumption  is  diminishing,  because 
the  demand  for  labour  and  capital  has  largely  diminished. 

The  power  of  the  people  to  pay  taxes  for  the  support  of  government  is 
dependent  upon  their  power  to  consume  commodities  that  are  taxed,  and  if 
protection  diminished  wages,  it  must  of  course  diminish  revenue ;  but  when 
we  examine  the  facts,  it  is  shown  that,  notwithstanding  a  great  increase  of  the 
free-list,  the  revenue  increased  under  the  tariff  of  1828,  and  fell  off  so  much 
afterwards  that  the  government  was  compelled  almost  to  beg  for  loans  in  the 
markets  of  Europe.  With  the  tariff  of  1842  it  grew  rapidly,  but  with  that 
of  1846  it  is  diminishing  in  actual  amount  per  head,  notwithstanding  the 
purchase  of  more  than  twenty  millions  of  goods  on  credit  in  a  single  year. 
If  that  debt  were  now  called  for,  the  revenue  of  the  current  year  would  not 
exceed  that  of  1842. 

The  question  to  be  settled  is — u  Does  the  power  to  import  grow  with  the 
diminution  in  the  power  to  produce  that  follows  the  withdrawal  of  protection?” 
If  it  does,  the  facts  must  prove  it.  There  is  no  question  that  the  power  to 
produce  iron  and  cloth  grows  with  protection.  That  is,  as  I  have  already 
said,  admitted  by  all.  Were  it  not,  the  facts  prove  it.  The  burden  of 
proof  lies,  then,  with  the  opponents  of  protection.  To  establish  their  system 
they  must  show  that  the  power  of  production  and  consumption  grows  now  as  it 
grew  three  years  since,  and  that  it  grew  from  1835  to  1843  as  it  grew  from 
1830  to  1834. 

The  first  thing  that  must  strike  all  who  examine  the  tables  given  in  my 
last  is  the  universally  diminutive  amount  of  foreign  products  received  in 
exchange  for  the  vast  bulk  of  cotton,  grain,  provisions,  &c.,  sent  to  foreign 
countries.  Thus  in  1842-43  the  import  of  cotton  cloth  was  much  less  than 
a  yard  per  head  of  the  population,  and  less  probably  than  one-fourth  of  a 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


1 


pound  of  cotton.  In  other  years  we  see  that  it  has  varied  from  two  to 
four  yards,  but  in  no  single  year  has  our  consumption  of  cotton  that  has 
passed  through  foreign  looms  materially  exceeded  a  pound  per  head. 

The  returns  from  Europe  received  for  all  our  products  may  be  summed 
up  nearly  as  follows:  fifty  cents’  worth  of  iron,  half  a  pound  of  wool,  about 
as  much  flax,  one  or  two  ounces  of  silk,  and  China  and  earthenware  equiva¬ 
lent  to  a  tolerable  cup  and  saucer,  to  which  may  be  added  the  twisting  and 
weaving  of  a  pound  and  a  half  of  cotton,  per  head.  To  obtain  all  this  we 
give  a  large  portion  of  the  land  and  labour  of  the  cotton-growing  States,  and 
of  those  employed  in  raising  tobacco  and  rice,  together  with  as  much  food 
as  would  feed  men,  women,  and  children  who  could  twist  and  weave  five 
times  the  cotton,  wool,  silk,  and  flax  we  import,  and  the  use  of  more  capital 
in  horses,  wagons,  railroads,  engines  and  cars,  steam  and  canal  boats,  ships, 
wharves  and  warehouses,  than  would  be  necessary  for  machinery  to  con¬ 
vert  all  our  cotton  into  cloth,  and  make  more  iron  than  has  ever  been  made 
in  Britain,  and  almost  as  much  labour  as  would  do  the  work — and  ivithai , 
we  are  brought  in  debt.  It  is  certainly  using  great  means  for  the  ac¬ 
complishment  of  small  ends. 

Every  portion  of  the  tables  tends  to  prove  that  while  the  amount  of 
foreign  commodities  received  in  payment  for  our  exports  increased  in  the 
period  from  1829  to  1834,  it  diminished  in  that  from  1835  to  1841 — still  fur¬ 
ther  diminished  in  the  years  1842  and  1843,  and  then  rose  rapidly  from 
1844  to  1847,  since  which  time  it  has  declined.  These  facts  seem  to 
warrant  the  conclusion  that  the  ability  to  consume  foreign  products,  by 
both  labourer  and  capitalist,  increased  under  the  two  tariffs  of  protection, 
and  declined  with  every  approach  to  free  trade.  If,  now,  we  desire  to  un¬ 
derstand  how  such  should  be  the  case,  it  may  be  useful  to  examine  how  it 
is  with  individuals,  and,  doing  so,  we  shall  find  that  the  man  who  produces 
most  largely  of  the  articles  of  prime  necessity  is  always  the  one  who  can 
indulge  most  freely  in  the  luxuries  of  life  ;  and  vice  versa ,  that  the  farmer 
who  obtains  from  his  land  the  least  food,  is  the  one  who  can  least  indulge 
in  clothing,  coffee,  tea,  or  books. 

What  is  further  to  be  remarked  is,  that  any  material  increase  in  the  con¬ 
sumption  of  foreign  products,  consequent  upon  the  approach  to  freedom  of 
trade,  has  appeared  to  be  followed  by  exhaustion  and  bankruptcy,  while  every 
increase  in  production  at  home,  consequent  upon  protection,  has  been  but  the 
preparation  for  a  new  and  larger  increase — sometimes  so  great  as  to  cause  a 
feeling  of  apprehension  that  it  was  unnatural,  and  could  not  be  maintained.  To 
what  extent  this  could  be  carried  has  never  been  ascertained,  for  the  only 
two  periods  of  perfect  protection  have  each  been  limited  to  four  years.  To 
understand  the  cause  of  this,  it  would  be  well  for  the  inquirer  to  examine  for 
himself  the  facts  that  become  obvious  to  sight,  whenever  and  wherever  a 
factory  or  furnace  has  recently  been  set  in  operation.  Those  presented  at 
Graniteville,  S.  C.,  are  thus  described  by  a  highly  intelligent  correspondent 
of  “  The  New  York  Herald  — 

“  The  effect  of  the  erection  of  this  manufactory  in  the  neighbourhood  is  almost  magical. 
Hundreds  have  found  employment  among  the  poor  of  the  white  inhabitants,  who  were, 
before,  almost  destitute.  A  Methodist  and  a  Baptist  church  have  been  erected.  A  free 
school  has  been  opened,  and  about  70  pupils  attend.  There  is  a  large  and  convenient 
hotel,  where  I  am  writing  this  letter.  The  town  is  laid  out  in  streets,  and  already  over 
80  dwelling-houses,  very  neat  and  comfortable,  with  gardens  attached,  have  been  put  up, 
which  rent  from  $16  to  $25  per  annum.  The  girls  in  the  factory  are,  some  of  them,  very 
pretty,  and  are  well  dressed ;  and,  from  what  I  can  learn,  the  change  in  their  appear¬ 
ance  is  extraordinary.  The  superintendent,  Mr.  George  Kelly,  who  came  out  here  and 
placed  the  factory  in  operation,  went  with  me  through  the  manufactory  and  town.  He 
informed  me  that  he  only  brought  with  him  four  or  five  experienced  persons  from  the 


2 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


North — all  the  rest  in  the  factory,  about  300,  men,  women,  and  children,  are  from  the 
Sand  Hills  and  immediate  vicinity,  where  they,  one  year  ago,  were  earning  nothing. 
They  make  now  from  four  to  five  dollars,  (males,)  females  from  three  to  four  dollars,  and 
children  one  to  two  dollars  per  week.  Some  of  the  girls,  who  are  now  well  dressed  and 
appear  very  intelligent,  a  year  ago  were  at  work  in  the  field,  hoeing  corn,  or  ploughing 
with  a  horse;  others  were  idle;  now  they  reside  in  comfortable  boarding-houses,  where 
they  pay  §1-50  per  week  for  board,  and  can  lay  up  money.  Their  education  is  attended 
to,  and  they  are  on  the  road  to  become  useful  and  productive  citizens.  In  fact,  since 
Christmas,  over  forty  marriages  have  taken  place  between  the  young  male  and  female 
operatives  in  the  factory.  They  were  brought  together  in  it,  became  attached,  and  got 
married.  In  such  a  case,  the  wife  generally  leaves  the  factory  to  attend  to  the  house¬ 
keeping  arrangements  of  the  new  couple,  and  the  husband  continues  in  the  factory,  which 
gives  them  an  independent  support. 

“  The  grounds  around  the  factory  are  laid  out  with  a  great  deal  of  taste,  and  I  have  not 
seen,  in  a  long  while,  a  more  prosperous  and  thriving  place.  New  houses  are  going  up 
every  week.  The  applications  for  work  are  double  what  they  can  possibly  employ. 
They  could  obtain,  in  the  district,  400  male  and  female  operators,  who  are  without  any 
work,  if  they  could  give  them  employment.” 

The  following  account  by  Mr.  Bryant,  Editor  of  “The  Evening  Post,” 
is  descriptive  of  facts  presented  by  a  mill  recently  erected  in  Barnwell 
District,  S.  C. : — 

«  The  girls  of  various  ages,  who  are  employed  at  the  spindles,  had,  for  the  most  part, 
a  sallow,  sickly  complexion,  and  in  many  of  their  faces  I  remarked  that  look  of  mingled 
distrust  and  dejection  which  often  accompanies  the  condition  of  extreme,  hopeless  poverty. 

<  These  poor  girls,’  said  one  of  our  party,  ‘  think  themselves  extremely  fortunate  to  be  em¬ 
ployed  here,  and  accept  work  gladly.  They  come  from  the  most,  barren  parts  of  Carolina 
and  Georgia,  where  their  families  live  wretchedly,  for  hitherto  there  has  been  no  manual 
occupation  provided  for  them,  from  which  they  do  not  shrink  as  disgraceful,  on  account 
of  its  being  the  occupation  of  slaves.  In  these  factories,  negroes  are  not  employed  as 
operatives,  and  this  gives  the  calling  of  the  factory  girl  a  certain  dignity.  You  would  be 
surprised  to  see  the  change  which  a  short  time  effects  in  these  poor  people.  They  come 
bare-footed,  dirty,  and  in  rags  ;  they  are  scoured,  put  into  shoes  and  stockings,  set  at  work, 
and  sent  regularly  to  Sunday-school,  where  they  are  taught  what  none  of  them  have  been 
taught  before — to  read  and  write.  In  a  short  time,  they  become  expert  at  their  work; 
they  lose  their  sullen  shyness,  and  their  physiognomy  becomes  comparatively  open  and 
cheerful.  Their  families  are  relieved  from  the  temptations  to  theft  and  other  shameful 
courses  which'  accompany  the  condition  of  poverty  without  occupation.’  ” 

He  adds  that  “at  Graniteville,  in  South  Carolina,  about  ten  miles  from  the  Savannah 
river,  a  little  manufacturing  village  has  lately  been  built  up,  where  the  families  of  the 
crackers ,  as  they  are  called,  reclaimed  from  their  idle  lives  in  the  woods,  are  settled  and 
white  labour  only  is  employed.  The  enterprise  is  said  to  be  in  a  most  prosperous  con¬ 
dition.” 

“The  buildings  are  erected  here  more  cheaply,”  he  continued;  “there  is  far  less  ex¬ 
pense  in  fuel,  and  the  wages  of  the  work-people  are  less.  At  first,  the  boys  and  girls  of 
the  1  cracker’  families  were  engaged  for  little  more  than  their  board  ;  their  wages  are  now 
better,  but  they  are  still  low.  I  am  about  to  go  to  the  North,  and  I  shall  do  my  best  to 
persuade  some  of  my  friends,  who  have  been  almost  ruined  by  this  Southern  competition, 
to  come  to  Augusta  and  set  up  cotton  mills.” 

The  labour  employed  in  building  these  mills  was  clear  profit.  The 
men  and  their  families  were  there,  and  they  had  to  be  supported  by  some¬ 
body,  whether  they  worked  or  not.  All  the  labour  employed  in  working 
the  mills  is  profit.  The  people  have  begun  to  produce.  From  unpro¬ 
ductive  consumers  they  have  become  productive  consumers.  In  their 
former  condition  they  could  consume  scarcely  any  clothing,  or  utensils 
requiring  iron  for  their  manufacture,  or  furniture,  or  books,  or  newspapers — 
scarcely  any  thing,  indeed,  but  food.  Having  become  productive,  the 
whole  surplus  may  go  to  the  purchase  of  other  things  than  food,  and  thus  is 
made  a  market  for  cloth  and  iron  and  other  commodities,  that  before  had  no 
existence.  Every  producer  is  a  consumer  to  the  whole  extent  of  his  pro¬ 
duction,  and  by  enabling  these  poor  people  to  produce  more,  the  planter 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


3 


makes  a  market  on  the  land  for  the  products  of  the  land,  to  the  extent'  of  the 
whole  excess  of  production.  The  more  that  is  produced,  the  more  must  be 
consumed. 

This  assertion  may  at  first  appear  to  be  one  of  doubtful  truth,  yet  a 
little  examination  will,  I  think,  suffice  to  establish  its  perfect  correctness. 
The  man  who  earns  six  dollars  a  week,  lays  by  one  of  them,  which  he  carries 
to  the  saving- fund,  which  lends  it  and  other  similar  dollars  to  some  one  who 
desires  to  build  a  house.  He  pays  it  out  to  workmen  who  purchase  with 
it  food  and  clothing,  and  thus  is  that  surplus  dollar  consunled.  The  capi¬ 
talist,  with  his  savings,  builds  houses,  or  ships,  or  factories,  and  the  work¬ 
men  whom  he  employs  purchase  food  and  clothing,  and  the  use  of  houses, 
with  his  money.  The  average  consumption  of  a  year  always  is  and  must 
be  equal  to  the  average  production,  and  if  we  desire  to  know  the  extent  of 
the  one  we  have  hut  to  ascertain  that  of  the  other. 

In  1839  we  imported  forty-three  millions  of  yards  of  cotton  cloths  of 
various  kinds,  the  consumers  of  which  were  customers  to  the  planter  to  the 
extent  of  eleven  millions  of  pounds  of  cotton,  or  less  than  28,000  bales,  being 
as  much  as  would  be  worked  up  by  twenty-eight  mills  of  moderate  size,  or 
fourteen  of  larger  size.  To  produce  those  mills  in  any  single  cotton-growing 
State  would  require  no  effort  whatsoever,  and  when  produced  it  would  be 
found  that  they  would  be  all  profit,  for  it  would  be  attended  with  not  the 
slightest  diminution  in  the  amount  of  agricultural  production.  The  labourers 
are  there,  and  a  large  portion  of  their  time  is  absolutely  waste.  The  horses 
and  wagons  are  there,  to  a  great  extent  unemployed.  The  timber  is  there, 
encumbering  the  best  lands  of  the  plantation.  The  men  and  the  horses 
piust  be  fed,  and  the  wagons  must  be  kept  in  order.  Make  a  market  for 
this  waste  labour,  and  the  labourers  will  consume  more  food,  but  the  chief 
increase  of  expenditures  will  be  in  clothing,  thus  making  a  market  for  cot¬ 
ton — in  houses,  making  a  market  for  stone  and  lumber — in  furniture,  for 
which  lumber  will  be  required — in  books  and  newspapers,  making  a  mar¬ 
ket  for  rags — and  the  cloth-makers,  and  carpenters,  and  masons,  and  cabinet¬ 
makers,  and  paper-makers,  and  printers,  will  want  cloth,  and  shoes,  and 
houses,  making  a  further  market  for  cotton  and  leather,  and  lumber  and 
stone.  Exchanging  thus  on  the  spot,  each  and  every  man  would  be  a  pro¬ 
ducer,  whereas  when  exchanges  are  made  at  great  distances,  the  transporters 
and  exchangers  are  more  numerous  than  the  producers,  and  as  consumption 
must  go  to  the  extent  of  production,  and  can  go  no  further,  we  may  now  see 
why  it  is  that  consumption  tends  to  increase  so  rapidly  when  men  work  in 
combination  with  each  other.  \ 

In  four  years  we  erected  mills  that  worked  up  300,000  bales  of  cotton, 
or  eleven  times  as  much  as  was  contained  in  all  the  cloth  imported  in 
1839.  To  have  created  treble  that  number  would  have  required  no  effort, 
nor  would  it  have  been  attended  with  any  loss  of  agricultural  products,  for 
the  labour  was  being  wasted  in  every  county  of  the  South  and  West :  and 
to  carry  them  on  would  now  be  attended  with  no  diminution  in  the  product 
of  food  or  cotton,  for  treble  the  labour  required  for  a  factory  is  now  being 
wasted  in  almost  every  county  of  the  Union,  and  in  every  one  south  of  New 
England.  To  the  labour-power  of  men  and  horses,  and  women  and  children, 
now  absolutely  unemployed,  let  us  add  the  quantity  that  is  wasted  on  the 
road,  and  to  that  let  us  add  the  manure  now  wasted  on  the  road,  and  then 
we  may  form  an  estimate,  but  even  then  a  very  insufficient  one,  of  the  in¬ 
creased  product  that  would  have  resulted  from  the  creation  of  those  mills. 
Let  us  then  reflect  that  all  these  people  are  now  fed,  and  that  their  surplus 
earnings  would  be  applicable  to  the  purchase  of  other  things  than  food,  and  we 
may  then  see  what  would  be  the  extent  of  the  market  thus  made  on  the 
land  for  the  products  of  the  land. 


4 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


A  great  error  exists  in  the  impression  now  very  commonly  entertained  in 
regard  to  national  division  of  labour,  and  which  owes  its  origin  to  the  English 
school  of  political  economists,  whose  system  is  throughout  based  upon  the 
idea  of  making  England  “the  workshop  of  the  world,”  than  which  nothing 
could  be  less  natural.  By  that  school  it  is  taught  that  some  nations  are 
fitted  for  manufactures  and  others  for  the  labours  of  agriculture,  and  that  the 
latter  are  largely  benefited  by  being  compelled  to  employ  themselves  in  the 
one  pursuit,  making  ail  their  exchanges  at  a  distance,  thus  contributing 
their  share  to  the  maintenance  of  the  system  of  “  ships,  colonies,  and  com¬ 
merce.”  The  whole  basis  of  their  system  is  conversion  and  exchange ,  and 
not  production,  yet  neither  makes  any  addition  to  the  amount  of  things  to 
be  exchanged.  It  is  the  great  boast  of  their  system  that  the  exchangers  are  so 
numerous  and  the  producers  so  few,*  and  the  more  rapid  the  increase  in  the 
proportion  which  the  former  bear  to  the  latter,  the  more  rapid  is  supposed  to 
be  the  advance  towards  perfect  prosperity.  Converters  and  exchangers, 
however,  must  live,  and  they  must  live  out  of  the  labour  of  others  :  and  if 
three,  five,  or  ten  persons  are  to  live  on  the  product  of  one,  it  must  follow 
that  all  will  obtain  but  a  small  allowance  of  the  necessaries  or  comforts  of 
life,  as  is  seen  to  be  the  case.  The  agricultural  labourer  of  England  often 
receives  but  eight  shillings  a  week,  being  the  price  of  a  bushel  and  a  half 
of  wheat. 

Were  it  asserted  that  some  nations  were  fitted  to  be  growers  of  wheat  and 
others  grinders  of  it,  or  that  some  were  fitted  for  cutting  down  trees  and 
others  for  sawing  them  into  lumber,  it  would  be  regarded  as  the  height  of 
absurdity,  yet  it  would  not  be  more  absurd  than  that  which  is  daily  asserted  in 
regard  to  the  conversion  of  cotton  into  doth,  and  implicitly  believed  by  tens  of 
thousands  even  of  our  countrymen.  The  loom  is  as  appropriate  and  neces¬ 
sary  an  aid  to  the  labours  of  the  planter  as  is  the  grist-mill  to  those  of  the 
farmer.  The  furnace  is  as  necessary  and  as  appropriate  an  aid  to  the 
labours  of  both  planter  and  farmer  as  is  the  saw-mill,  and  those  who  are 
compelled  to  dispense  with  the  proximity  of  the  producer  of  iron,  labour  to 
as  much  disadvantage  as  do  those  who  are  unable  to  obtain  the  aid  of  the 
saw-mill  and  the  miller.  The  loom  and  the  anvil  are,  like  the  plough  and 
the  harrow,  but  small  machines,  naturally  attracted  by  the  great  machine, 
the  earth,  and  when  so  attracted  all  work  together  in  harmony,  and  men 
become  rich,  and  prosperous,  and  happy.  When,  on  the  contrary,  from 
any  disturbing  cause,  the  attraction  is  in  the  opposite  direction,  and  the 
small  machines  are  enabled  to  compel  the  products  of  the  great  machine  to 
follow  them,  the  land  invariably  becomes  poor,  and  men  become  poor  and 
miserable,  as  is  the  case  with  Ireland. 

To  those  who  doubt  the  extent  of  the  loss  resulting  from  this  unnatural 
division  of  labour,  I  would  recommend  a  visit  to  any  farm  at  a  distance  of 
thirty  or  forty  miles  from  a  furnace  or  a  factory,  that  they  may  there,  on  the 
ground,  satisfy  themselves  of  the  fact.  They  will  there  see  days  perpetually 
wasted  for  want  of  means  of  occupation — and  other  days  on  the  road  carrying 
to  market  small  amounts  of  produce — and  general  listlessness  resulting  from 
the  want  of  stimulus  to  activity,  on  the  part  of  the  men,  while  children, 
male  and  female,  are  totally  unemployed,  and  the  schoolmaster  remains 
abroad  for  want  of  means  to  pay  him  when  at  home.  As  a  general  rule, 

*  “  Out  of  3,400,000  families  in  Great  Britain  in  1831,  but  960,000  were  engaged  in 
agriculture,  the  work  of  production.  Between  1831  and  1841  the  number  of  adult  males 
increased  630,000,  but  the  number  of  those  employed  in  agriculture  diminished  19,000. 
The  town  population,  that  which  lives  by  the  work  of  conversion  and  exchange,  is  steadily 
increasing  in  its  ratio  to  the  producing  population,  and  as  a  necessary  consequence  there 
is  a  steady  increase  of  poverty,  vice,  and  crime. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


our  farmers  attach  scarcely  any  value  to  time.  They  go  to  a  distant  market 
in  preference  to  selling  at  a  nearer  one,  when  the  difference  of  price  to  be 
obtained  upon  their  few  pounds  of  butter,  or  baskets  of  vegetables,  appears 
utterly  insignificant  compared  with  the  loss  of  time  and  labour,  and  they  do 
this  because  labour  is  to  so  great  an  extent  totally  valueless.  Let  the  in¬ 
quirer  look  to  these  things  for  himself,  and  let  him  then  add  the  enormous 
proportion  of  the  labour  that  is  misemployed  in  badly  cultivating  large  sur¬ 
faces  instead  of  small  ones — in  keeping  up  fences  and  roads  entirely  dis- 
proportioned  to  the  product  of  the  land — and  finally  let  him  add  the  waste  of 
intellect  from  the  want  of  proper  instruction  and  frequent  communication 
with  their  neighbour  men — and  then  let  him  determine  if  the  loss  is  not  five 
times  over  as  great  as  would  pay  for  all  the  cloth  and  iron — raw  material 
included — consumed  upon  the  farm.  Place  the  mill  there,  and  all  this  is 
saved.  The  farmer  and  his  horses  and  wagon  are  employed  in  hauling 
stone  and  timber  for  the  mill  and  for  houses,  and  his  children  find  employ¬ 
ment  in  the  mill,  or  in  the  production  of  things  that  can  be  used  by  those 
who  work  in  the  mill,  and  all  their  extra  earnings  may  go  for  cloth  and 
iron,  for  food  they  had  before.  I  say  all,  for  with  the  mill  come  improved 
roads,  and  the  facility  of  sending  to  market  the  many  things  for  which  a 
market  on  the  land  cannot  as  yet  be  made. 

The  mill  and  fu,rnace,  and  the  coal  mine,  are  saving- funds,  in  which  the 
people  of  the  neighbourhood  deposit  the  labour  and  the  things  which  other¬ 
wise  would  be  waste,  and  where  these  depositories  exist,  farmers  and 
planters  become  rich.  Where  they  do  not,  they  remain  poor.  To  those 
who  desire  to  understand  the  wonderful  effect  of  the  daily  deposit  of  small 
quantities  of  labour,  I  would  recommend  an  examination  of  the  saving-fund 
system  of  Europe  and  this  country.  They  will  there  see  ho\tf  much  can  be 
accumulated  from  small  savings  when  a  safe  place  of  deposit  is  offered,  and 
thence  can  form  a  judgment  of  how  much  is  liable  to  be  wasted  for  want  of 
such  institutions.  The  people  of  New  England  have  saving-funds  in  which 
they  deposit  what  would  be  otherwise  the  -waste  labour  of  themselves,  their 
horses  and  wagons,  their  sons  and  their  daughters,  and  much  of  the  produce 
that  -would  otherwise  be  wasted,  making  by  the  very  act  a  market  on  the 
land  for  the  products  of  the  land,  and  thus  are  enabled  to  save  the  manure, 
and  they  grow  rich  because  of  these  economies.  The  people  of  other 
States  waste  labour,  and  water-power,  and  produce  of  various  kinds,  and 
then  they  destroy  their  timber  for  want  of  a  market  for  it,  and  they  waste 
their  manure,  and  thus  it  is  that  they  remain  poor  because  of  this  extrava¬ 
gance.  One  cent  per  day  for  each  person  of  the  nation  is  almost  eighty 
millions  of  dollars  in  a  year.  Is  there  not  wasted,  for  want  of  a  demand  for 
it,  labour  to  quintuple  that  sum  per  head  ?  If  so,  the  amount  is  four  hundred 
millions  of  dollars,  or  forty  times  the  price — raw  material  included — of  all 
the  cotton  cloths  we  can  afford  to  buy  from  abroad. 

Were  all  this  saved,  it  would  make  a  market  for  four  hundred  millions 
of  dollars  of  cottons  and  woollens,  of  linens,  iron,  hardware,  agricultural  im¬ 
plements,  coal,  and  all  of  the  thousand  other  things  required  for  the  comfort 
and  enjoyment  of  life.  I  say  four  hundred  millions  of  those  things,  for  food 
they  had  before,  and  as  they  are  all  consumers  to  the  whole  extent  of  their 
production,  they  must  expend  almost  the  whole  extra  production  in  other 
things  than  food.  To  the  extent  of  these  four  hundred  millions  they  would 
be  customers  to  the  land  and  its  owner,  for  the  earth  is  the  sole  producer. 

Should  the  inquirer  desire  to  view  the  effect  of  this  waste  of  labour,  on  a 
large  scale,  he  could  not  now  do  better  than  visit  the  valley  of  the  Schuyl- 
kill.  Doing  so,  he  would  find  there  all  the  labour  and  all  the  machine- 
power  requisite  for  the  production  at  market  of  60,000  tons  of  coal  per  week, 


I 


i 


6 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


worth  about  $240,000.  The  quantity  that  will  go  to  market  this  year  will 
be  about  30,000  tons  per  week,  worth  $120,000.  Here  is  a  diminution  in 
the  article  of  coal  alone,  to  the  extent  of  six  millions  of  dollars,  and  if  we 
were  to  add  the  loss  from  iron  it  would  increase  greatly  the  amount.  Having 
ascertained  this,  if  he  should  then  inquire  what  was  being  produced  to 
make  amends  for  this,  he  would  find  it  literally  nothing.  The  men  are 
there,  and  their  wives  and  families  are  there,  and  they  must  have  food,  and 
that  they  may  obtain  it  hundreds  and  thousands  are  cultivating  potato 
patches ;  but  the  whole  value  produced  to  take  the  place  of  the  coal  and 
iron  not  produced,  is  so  small  as  scarcely  to  be  worth  the  slightest  notice. 

The  labour-power  now  being  wasted  in  that  valley  is  more  than  would 
pay  for  all  the  iron  and  coal  we  have  imported,  and  for  which  Ave  have  to 
pay  in  wheat  or  cotton.  If,  now,  we  follow  this  six  millions,  we  can  find  it 
everywhere  diminishing  the  power  of  the  labourer  and  the  miner  to  con¬ 
sume  food  or  cloth,  to  the  loss  of  both  farmer  and  planter — diminishing  the 
demand  for  the  labour,  and  consequently  the  reward  of  the  labourer  and  of  the 
mechanic — diminishing  the  power  of  railroad  owners  to  construct  new  roads, 
and  thus  again  diminishing  the  demand  for  labour,  and  the  power  to  pay 
for  cloth  or  food  :  and  thus  may  it  be  traced,  step  by  step,  throughout  the 
whole  nation,  every  interest  taking  its  share  of  the  loss. 

Let  the  inquirer  next  visit  a  factory  of  any  kind,  and  he  will  see  that  the 
whole  value  of  the  labour  there  employed  is  a  creation  that  owes  its  existence 
to  the  fact  that  the  mill  has  been  built  to  be  a  saving-fund  in  which  each 
family  may  deposit  the  labour,  physical  and  mental,  that  would  otherwise 
be  wasted,  receiving  in  exchange  the  cloth,  the  hats  and  coats,  the  shoes  and 
stockings,  the  books  and  newspapers,  that  could  not  otherwise  have  been 
obtained.  Let  him  then  trace  these  savings,  and  he  will  find  them  pro¬ 
ducing  an  increased  demand  for  food — and  better  food — a  demand  for  cotton, 
and  wool,  and  iron,  and  fuel,  and  all  other  of  the  products  of  the  earth,  to 
the  benefit  of  every  owner  or  cultivator  of  land,  whether  farmer  or  planter. 

The  people  of  New  England  save  labour,  and  doing  so  they  grow  rich, 
and  are  enabled  to  make  roads  by  which  they  travel  rapidly  to  market,  and 
they  save  the  refuse  of  their  products,  which  goes  back  upon  the  land,  and 
that  also  grows  rich.  The  people  of  the  South  and  West,  for  want  of  such 
labour-saving-funds,  waste  more  time  than  would  pay  many  times  over  for 
all  the  cloth  and  iron  they  can  consume  ;  and  then  they  are  unable  to  make 
roads,  the  consequence  of  which  is  that  the  conveyance  to  market  is  costly. 
They  have  to  go  to  a  distance  for  the  performance  of  every  exchange,  how¬ 
ever  small.  Their  necessities  for  making  roads  are  great,  but  their  power 
to  make  roads  is  small.  They  waste  all  the  refuse  of  their  land,  which  is 
exhausted,  and  then  they  run  away  to  other  lands,  increasing  their  necessi¬ 
ties  and  diminishing  their  power. 

But,  it  is  asked,  cannot  too  much  coal  and  iron,  cotton,  wrheat,  and  other 
of  the  good  things  of  the  world  be  produced — more  than  can  be  consumed  ? 
Those  who  ask  this  question  do  not  recollect  that  every  man  is  a  consumer 
to  the  whole  extent  of  his  production.  The  more  coal  and  iron  are  produced, 
the  more  wheat  and  cotton  are  consumed.  The  more  wheat  and  cotton  are 
produced,  the  more  coal  and  iron  are  consumed.  Consumption  and  production 
go  hand  in  hand,  and  when  there  is  a  glut  of  any  thing  it  is  the  result  of 
error  in  the  system  that  requires  to  be  corrected. 

Coal  is  now  superabundant.  '  The  market  is  overloaded  with  a  quantity 
smaller  than  that  which  was  readily  consumed  two  years  since,  and  less  by 
one-third  than  would  be  now  required,  had  the  power  of  consumption  in¬ 
creased  at  the  same  rate  as  during  the  period  from  1843  to  1847.  The 
friends  of  the  existing  system  point  to  the  trivial  import  of  foreign  coal,  and 


/ 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS.  7 


say  that  the  cause  of  diminished  product  cannot  there  be  found.  They  are 
right,  but  in  so  saying  they  condemn  the  system.  The  duty  on  coal  was 
reduced  in  order  that  the  labourer  might  obtain  fuel  more  readily,  but  it  has 
become  so  much  more  difficult  to  procure  it  that  the  consumption  is  already 
sensibly  diminished,  with  every  prospect  of  a  further  diminution.  The 
total  import  of  iron,  and  of  cotton  cloth,  is  as  nothing  compared  with  the 
growth  of  the  product  in  the  years  from  1843  to  1847,  and  thus  we  see  that 
the  supply  diminishes  instead  of  increasing  in  its  ratio  to  population,  under 
a  system  that  was  to  enable  the  labourer,  and  the  farmer  and  planter,  more 
readily  to  obtain  cloth  and  iron. 

It  is  not  so  much  that  coal  needs  protection  for  itself — or  that  iron  or  cot¬ 
ton  need  it  for  themselves — but  that  each  needs  it  for  the  other.  The  producer 
of  coal  suffers  because  the  furnace  is  closed,  and  the  producer  of  iron  suffers 
because  the  factories  are  no  longer  built,  and  the  maker  of  cloth  suffers  be¬ 
cause  labour  is  everywhere  being  wasted,  and  the  power  to  buy  cloth  is 
diminished.  The  harmony  of  interests — agricultural  and  manufacturing — 
is  as  perfect  as  is  that  of  the  movements  of  a  watch,  and  no  one  can  suffer 
without  producing  injury  among  all  around.  The  grower  of  cotton  suffers 
when  the  operatives  in  cotton  factories  and  the  workers  in  mines  and  fur¬ 
naces  are  unemployed,  and  the  latter  suffer  when  adverse  circumstances 
diminish  the  return  to  the  labour  of  the  farmer  and  planter. 

There  are  more  labour  and  the  products  of  labour  wasted  in  the  States 
south  of  Mason  and  Dixon’s  line,  than  would,  ten  times  over ,  convert  into 
cloth  all  the  cotton  they  produce,  and  more  in  the  States  north  of  it,  than 
would,  ten  times  over ,  produce  all  the  iron  made  in  Great  Britain.  This 
may  appear  a  large  statement,  yet  it  is  less  than  the  truth,  as  will  be  clearly 
seen  on  examination.  If  evidence  of  this  be  desired,  look  to  the  fact 
that  the  manufacture  of  cottons  and  woollens  doubled  in  five  years — 
and  that  of  iron,  which  in  1843  was  under  250,000  tons,  reached  nearly 
800,000  in  1847.  Did  this  diminish  the  products  of  agriculture?  Was 
not,  on  the  contrary,  the  supply  greater  than  was  ever  before  known?  We 
added  at  least  two  hundred  millions  in  manufactures,  not  only  without 
diminution  elsewhere,  but  with  a  larger  increase  than  had  ever  before  taken 
place,  and  it  was  precisely  when  the  home  consumption  had  become  so  im¬ 
mense  that  the  assertion  was  made  that  we  had  three  hundred  millions  of 
bushels  of  food  for  which  we  needed  a  market.  All  this  labour  was  saved 
labour,  and  much  of  the  things  employed  would  otherwise  have  been  wasted. 

Look  next  to  the  other  fact,  that  it  was  precisely  when  the  growth  of 
manufactures  was  arrested ,  from  1835  to  1839,  that  the  supply  of  food  be¬ 
came  so  short  that,  notwithstanding  diminished  consumption  consequent 
upon  high  prices,  we  were  compelled  to  import  wheat  .to  the  amount  of 
more  than  four  millions  of  dollars  in  a  single  year,  and  it  will  be  seen  if 
the  experience  of  the  two  periods — 1835-’41,  and  1844— ’47 — does  not 
prove  conclusively  that  the  nearer  the  loom  and  the  anvil  are  brought  to  the 
plough,  the  larger  is  the  return  to  the  labours  of  the  ploughman.  Could  it 
be  otherwise  ?  The  nearer  the  place  of  exchange,  the  less  of  labour  and 
manure  are  wasted  on  the  road,  and  the  more  uninterruptedly  is  labour 
applied,  upon  a  machine  constantly  increasing  in  its  powers.  The  demand 
for  lumber  enables  the  farmer  to  sell  his  trees,  and  with  the  product  he 
drains  his  land,  and  thus  is  enabled  to  cultivate  more  and  better  land.  The 
more  distant  the  loom  and  the  anvil,  the  more  labour  and  manure  are  wasted  on 
the  road,  the  less  of  both  can  be  given  to  the  land,  and  the  best  lands  neces¬ 
sarily  remain  encumbered  with  trees  that  are  valueless,  because  the  labour 
of  clearing  them  is  more  than  they  are  worth  when  cleared. 

That  the  reward  of  the  labourer  advances  under  the  protective  system  i.s 


8 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


obvious  from  the  fact  that  immigration  increases.  Men  go  from  low  wages 
to  seek  high  ones.  From  1829  to  1834  immigration  grew.  Thence  to 
1843  it  was  almost  stationary.  Thence  to  the  present  time  it  has  increased 
with  vast  rapidity.  Henceforward,  if  the  existing  system  be  maintained, 
it  must  diminish,  for  the  power  to  obtain  food  and  clothing,  fuel  and  house- 
room,  wages,  has  declined. 

That  the  productiveness  of  labour  increases  is  obvious  from  the  rapid 
growth  of  canal  and  railroad  tolls,  and  their  stationary  condition  with  every 
approach  to  the  policy  that  tends  to  the  separation  of  the  loom  and  the  anvil 
from  the  plough  and  the  harrow.  So  again  with  the  growth  of  steamboats, 
and  of  vessels  generally.  The  more  there  is  produced,  the  more  can  be 
consumed,  and  the  more  will  go  to  market. 

There  is,  as  it  appears  to  me,  no  single  point  of  view  from  which  we  re¬ 
gard  the  facts  now  passing  before  our  eyes,  in  which  we  shall  not  find  con¬ 
firmation  of  the  correctness  of  these  views.  Were  all  the  machinery  now 
used  in  Lowell  and  Providence,  for  the  manufacture  of  coarse  cloths,  taken 
out  and  replaced  by  that  fitted  for  making  fine  cloths,  and  muslins,  and  silks, 
the  product  would  be  ten  times  as  much  as  wTe  now  import,  with  little 
increase  in  the  quantity  of  labour  employed.  Were  all  that  coarse  ma¬ 
chinery  then  distributed  throughout  the  South,  it  would  enable  the  people 
of  Southern  States  to  convert  into  cloth  three  hundred  thousand  additional  bales 
of  cotton,  not  only  without  diminution  in  the  agricultural  export,  but  with 
an  increase,  for  labour  would  then  be  more  advantageously  applied.  To 
accomplish  all  this,  by  building  mills  and  making  machinery,  would  require 
an  amount  of  labour  equal  to  but  a  very  small  portion  of  that  which  is  now 
wasted  in  a  single  year,  and  not  as  much  as  is  this  year  wasted  in  Penn¬ 
sylvania  alone. 

The  people  of  the  North  would  then  have  called -into  action  a  higher  de¬ 
gree  of  intellect  than  is  now  required,  and  wages  would  rise,  and  the 
consumption  of  woollen  and  cotton  cloth,  of  silks,  and  of  sugar,  and  tea,  and 
coffee,  would  grow  rapidly.  The  people  of  the  South  would  find  the  same 
effects.  Their  own  consumption  of  cotton  would  be  quintupled,  while  they 
would  consume  more  and  better  food  than  now.  They  would  need  better 
houses,  and  the  demand  for  timber  and  stone  would  clear  their  land,  and 
wealth  and  population  would  give  them  better  roads,  and  the  men  who  came 
to  make  roads  would  eat  food  and  wear  coarse  cottons,  and  thus  the  planters 
themselves  would  be  enabled  to  become  large  customers  for  the  fine  ones  pro¬ 
duced  in  the  North. 

Consuming  more  tea  and  coffee,  the  producers  of  those  articles  would  be 
able  to  purchase  more  cotton,  and  thus  the  planters’  market  would  grow  on 
every  hand.  The  demand  for  machinery,  for  furniture,  and  for  thousands  of 
other  things,  would  produce  new  improvements  in  manufactures,  and  the 
producers  of  tea  and  coffee,  sugar  and  cotton,  would  be  enabled  to  consume 
more  largely  of  them,  while  the  makers  of  machinery  and  furniture  would 
need  more  iron,  more  lumber,  and  more  cotton.* 


*  I  take  the  following  from  The  Cincinnati  Gazette ,  as  evidence  of  the  vast  amount  of 
smaller  articles,  composed  of  things  that  would  be  wasted,  and  prepared,  much  of  it,  by 
labour  that  would  be  wasted  but  for  the  proximity  of  a  market : — 

“  What  our  larger  manufactures  for  the  South  are,  is  well  understood,  especially  by 
persons  familiar  with  the  machinery  of  sugar  plantations.  Our  small  manufactures,  con¬ 
sisting  of  bagging,  buckets,  tubs,  ploughs,  &c.,  are  less  known.  The  exports  of  some  of 
these  for  four  seasons,  will  serve  to  show  noth  the  requirements  of  the  South  in  this 
respect,  and  our  ability  to  supply  them. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


9 


On  the  other  hand,  let  us  suppose  the  cotton  mills  closed,  and  the  supply 
of  cloth  diminished  to  the  extent  of  all  that  is  produced  from  600,000  bales 
of  cotton — the  furnaces  closed,  and  the  supply  of  iron  diminished  to  the 
extent  of  800,000  tons — and  the  coal  mines  closed,  and  the  supply  of  fuel 
diminished  to  the  extent  of  three  millions  of  tons — could  we  import  and  pay 
for  the  deficiency  ?  Would  the  whole  cotton  crop  then  bring  more  than  we 
now  obtain  for  three-fourths  of  it  ?  It  would  not.  Our  power  to  import 
foreign  cloth  and  iron,  and  fuel,  would  not  only  not  be  increased,  but  it 
would  be  diminished,  and  we  should  consume  one  pound  of  cotton  per  head 
instead  of  ten  or  twelve.  The  power  to  pay  for  all  the  cotton  and  iron  pro¬ 
duced  at  home,  results  from  the  saving  of  labour,  and  with  the  disappear¬ 
ance  of  the  power  to  save  that  labour  would  disappear  the  power  to  consume 
what  are  now  its  products.  Union  between  the  producer  and  the  consumer 
at  home,  would,  therefore,  appear  to  be  more  profitable  than  union  with 
people  abroad  and  disunion  among  those  at  home. 

CHAPTER  FIFTH. 

WHY  IS  IT  THAT  PROTECTION  IS  REQUIRED  ? 

If  all  the  labour  employed  in  converting  food  and  cotton  into  cloth,  and 
food,  ore,  and  fuel  into  iron,  be  really  saved  labour — if  the  whole  result  he 
really  profit— -why  is  it  that  men  should  require  protection  to  enable  them  to 
produce  cloth  and  iron?  The  question  is  a  natural  one,  and  should  be  fully 
answered. 

It  is  because  it  is  saved  labour,  and  because  the  loom  and  the  anvil  are 
merely  subsidiary  to  the  plough  and  the  harrow  that  protection  is  required. 
The  first  and  great  object  of  man  is,  to  obtain  food  and  the  materials  of 
clothing  for  himself  and  family.  Neither  is  fit  for  use  in  the  form  in  which 
it  is  yielded  by  the  earth — the  great  machine  of  production.  The  grain 
requires  to  he  ground,  and  the  wool  to  be  spun  and  woven.  He  pounds 
the  one  and  his  wife  endeavours  to  convert  the  other  into  cloth  of  some 
description,  however  rude.  They  work  with  bad  machinery,  and  they 
lose  much  time,  and  yet  the  loss  is  less  than  would  be  the  case  were  they 
to  carry  the  grain  to  the  distant  flour-mill,  or  the  wool  to  the  yet  more  distant 
woollens-mill.  By  degrees  population  increases,  and  the  blacksmith  comes  to 
exchange  horse-shoes  for  food.  The  carpenter  comes  to  exchange  labour 
for  food.  The  saw-miller  comes  to  exchange  the  labour  of  himself  and  his 


1845-46. 

1846-’47.‘ 

1S47-  48. 

1848-’49. 

Alcohol,  bbls.  . 

1,615 

1,844 

1,771 

3,022 

Brooms,  doz. 

1,584 

5,108 

3,760 

'  3,333 

Bagging,  pieces 

•  . 

8,867 

12,632 

15,910 

Candles,  boxes 

6,757 

16,622 

29,180 

39,640 

Cooperage,  pieces 

18,388 

41,121 

36,924 

55,617 

Lard  oil,  bbls. 

1,690 

6,199 

8,277 

9,550 

Linseed  oil,  bbls. 

455 

6,032 

3,878 

3,020 

Soap,  boxes 

2,708 

10,080 

11,295 

11,308 

Starch,  boxes  . 

2,499 

5,826 

8,179 

7,904 

White  lead,  kegs 

1 

29,417 

Sundry  manufactures,  packages 

7,957 

22,251 

42,418 

94,934 

“  These  small  manufactures  are  too  often  overlooked  by  persons  from  abroad  who  sur¬ 
vey  this  populous  city,  and  wonder  how  it  came  and  what  it  is  doing  out  here  in  the 
heart  of  what  was  nothing  but  a  wilderness  half  a  century  ago.  But  they  really  consti¬ 
tute,  as  every  one  familiar  with  them  knows,  one  of  the  main  elements  of  our  prosperity. 
And  behind  them  lie  many  others,  contributing  their  share  to  our  comforts  and  our 
growth,  which  as  yet  enter  only  slightly  into  our  export  trade,  and  consequently  are  not 
included  in  our  commercial  tables.” 


10 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 

t 

machine  for  food.  In  all  these  cases  we  see  combination  of  action,  and 
with  its  growth  men  obtain  horse-shoes  and  houses  more  readily  than 
before.  Next  the  little  grist-mill  comes,  and  the  miller  gives  the  labour  of 
grinding  in  exchange  for  food  to  eat.  Again,  the  little  woollens-mill  comes, 
and  the  miller  gives  his  labour  to  the  carpenter  and  saw-millef  for  labour 
and  lumber,  to  the  blacksmith  for  his  iron  work,  and  to  the  farmer  for  food 
and  wool.  Next  the  little  furnace  comes,  and  the  furnace  man,  in  like 
manner,  exchanges  with  his  neighbours,  and  with  the  progress  of  combi¬ 
nation  of  action  men  obtain,  at  every  step,  food,  fuel,  clothing,  iron,  furni¬ 
ture,  and  houses,  with  increased  facility.  The  first  and  great  desire  of  man 
is  that  of  association  with  his  fellow-man,  and  it  is  so,  because  he  feels  that 
improvement  of  his  condition,  physical,  moral,  mental  and  political,  is  its 
uniform  accompaniment. 

Throughout  this  country,  there  is  a  want  of  combination.  Men  are  per¬ 
petually  flying  from  each  other,  scattering  themselves  over  large  surfaces, 
and  wasting  the  labour  that  if  saved  would  make  them  rich.  This  inability 
to  combine  their  exertions  is  the  result  of  artificial  causes ;  and  the  adoption 
of  the  protective  system  has  been  produced  by  an  instinctive  effort  to  obtain 
by  its  aid  that  which,  had  those  causes  not  existed,  would  have  come 
naturally  and  without  effort. 

If  we  now  look  to  the  early  history  of  these  provinces,  we  shall  see  the 
gradual  tendency  towards  the  establishment  of  furnaces,  woollen-mills,  &c. 
for  the  purpose  of  enabling  men  to  combine  their  exertions  for  obtaining  iron, 
cloth,  and  other  of  the  necessaries  of  life  with  the  least  loss  of  labour^'n  the 
work  of  transportation,  whereby  they  might  be  enabled  to  economize  their 
own  labour  to  be  employed  in  the  work  of  production,  while  their  sons  and 
daughters  were  obtaining  wages  in  the  conversion  of  wool  into  cotton,  or 
ore  into  iron. 

The  object  of  the  colonial  system  was  that  of  “  raising  up  a  nation  of 
customers,”  a  project  “fit  only,”  says  Adam  Smith,  “for  a  nation  of  shop¬ 
keepers.”  He  was,  however,  inclined  to  think,  that  even  for  them  it  was 
unfit,  although  “  extremely  fit  for  a  nation  whose  government  was  influenced 
by  shopkeepers.”  As  early  as  the  period  immediately  following  the  Revolu¬ 
tion  of  1GS8,  we  find  the  shopkeeping  influence  exerted  for  the  “dis¬ 
couragement”  of  the  woollens  manufacture  of  Ireland;  and  while  the 
people  of  that  unfortunate  country  wrere  thus  prevented  from  converting 
their  own  wool  into  cloth,  they  were  by  other  laws  prevented  from  making 
any  exchanges  with  their  fellow-subjects  in  other  colonies,  unless  through 
the  medium  of  English  ports  and  English  “  shopkeepers.” 

Such  being  the  case,  it  was  little  likely  that  any  efforts  at  combination  of 
exertion  among  distant  colonists,  for  rendering  labour  more  productive  of 
the  conveniences  and  comforts  of  life,  should  escape  the  jealous  eyes  of  men 
whose  shopkeeping  instincts  had  prompted  them  to  the  adoption  of  such 
measures  in  regard  to  nearer  ones.  The  first  attempt  at  manufacturing 
any  species  of  cloth  in  the  American  provinces  was  followed  by  interfei^ 
ence  on  the  part  of  the  British  legislature.  In  1710,  the  House  of  Com¬ 
mons  declared,  “  that  the  erecting  of  manufactories  in  the  colonies  had  a 
tendency  to  lessen  their  dependence  upon  Great  Britain.”  Soon  afterwards 
complaints  were  made  to  Parliament,  that  the  colonists  were  setting  up 
manufactories  for  themselves,  and  the  House  of  Commons  ordered  the 
Board  of  Trade  to  report  upon  the  subject,  wrhich  was  done  at  great  length. 
In  1732,  the  exportation  of  hats  from  province  to  province  was  prohibited, 
and  the  number  of  apprentices  to  be  taken  by  hatters  was  limited.  In 
1750,  the  erection  of  any  mill  or  other  engine  for  splitting  or  rolling  iron 
was  prohibited  ;  but  pig-iron  was  allowed  to  be  imported  into  England  duty 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


11 


free,  that  it  might  then  be  manufactured  and  sent  back  again.  At  a  later  pe¬ 
riod,  Lord  Chatham  declared,  that  he  would  not  allow  the  colonists  to  make 
even  a  hob-nail  for  themselves.  Such  is  a  specimen  of  the  system,  with  regard 
to  these  colonies.  That  in  relation  to  the  world  at  large  shall  now  he  given. 

By  the  act,  5George  III,.  [1765,]  the  exportation  of  artisans  was  prohibited 
under  a  heavy  penalty. 

By  that  of  21  George  III.  [1781,]  the  exportation  of  utensils  required  for 
the  manufacture  of  woollens  or  silk  wras  likewise  prohibited. 

By  that  of  22  George  III.  [1782,]  the  prohibition  was  extended  to 
artificers  in  printing  calicoes,  cottons,  muslins  or  linens,  or  in  making 
blocks  and  implements  to  be  used  in  their  manufacture. 

By  that  of  25  George  III.  [1785,]  it  was  extended  to  tools  used  in  the 
iron  and  steel  manufactures,  and  to  the  workmen  employed  therein. 

By  that  of  39  George  III.  [1799,]  it  was  extended  to  colliers. 

These  laws  continued  in  full  force  until  the  year  1824,  when  the  prohi¬ 
bition  as  to  the  export  of  artisans  was  abolished,  and  all  those  relating  to 
the  export  of  machinery  so  far  relaxed  that  “  permission  may  now  be  had 
for  the  exportation  of  all  the  more  common  articles  of  machinery,”  discretion 
having  been  given  to  the  Board  of  Trade,  which  decides  upon  each  appli¬ 
cation,  “according  to  the  merits  of  the  case.”  But  little  difficulty  is 
now,  it  is  said,  experienced  by  merchants,  who  generally  know  as  to 
what  machines  “the  indulgence  will  be  extended,  and  from  what  it  will 
be  withheld,”  almost  as  certainly  as  if  it  had  been  settled  by  act  of  Parlia¬ 
ment  ;  yet,  it  is  deemed  advantageous  to  have  it  left  discretionary  with  the 
Board,  that  they  may  have  “the  power  of  regulating  the  matter,  according 
to  the  changing  interests  of  commerce.”*  Under  this  system,  the  whole 
quantity  of  machinery  exported  in  the  eleven  years,  from  1824  to  1835, 
averaged  but  two  hundred  thousand  pounds  per  annum.f 

We  see  thus,  that  the  whole  legislation  of  Great  Britain,  on  this  subject, 
has  been  directed  to  the  one  great  object  of  preventing  the  people  of  her 
colonies,  and  those  of  independent  nations,  from  obtaining  the  machinery 
necessary  to  enable  them  to  combine  their  exertions  for  the  purpose  of 
obtaining  cloth  or  iron,  and  thus  compelling  them  to  bring  to  her  their  raw 
materials,  that  she  might  convert  them  into  the  forms  that  fitted  them  for 
consumption,  and  then  return  to  the  producers  a  portion  of  them,  burdened 
with  great  cost  for  transportation,  and  heavy  charges  for  the  work  of  con¬ 
version.  We  see,  too,  that  notwithstanding  the  revocation  of  a  part  of  the 
system,  it  is  still  discretionary  with  the  Board  of  Trade,  whether  or  not 
they  will  permit  the  export  of  machinery  of  any  description. 

Had  it  not  been  that  there  was  a  natural  tendency  to  have  the  producer 
of  iron  and  cloth,  and  hats?  to  take  his  place  by  the  side  of  the  producer  of 
food  and  wool,  there  could  never  have  arisen  any  necessity  for  such  laws 
as  those  passed  in  relation  to  Ireland  and  the  colonies,  and  had  that  ten¬ 
dency  not  existed,  the  laws  prohibiting  the  export  of  machinery  would 
never  have  been  required.  It  did  exist,  and  it  does  everywhere  exist,  and 
it  was  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  the  gradual  development  of  a  natural 
state  of  things,  and  bringing  about  an  unnatural  one,  whereby  Great  Britain 
might  be  made  “the  work-shop  of  the  world,”  that  those  laws  were  passed. 
The  object  of  protection  has  been,  and  is,  to  restore  the  natural  one. 

The  effect  of  those  laws  has  been  that  of  bringing  about  an  unnatural 
division  of  her  population.  The  loom  and  the  anvil,  in  that  country,  instead  of 
being  second  to  the  plough,  have  become  first,  with  great  deterioration  in 


*  Porter’s  Progress  of  the  Nation,  Vol.  I.  p.  320. 
d  Ibid.  p.  323. 


12 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


the  condition  of  both  labourer  and  capitalist.  For  a  long  period,  the  few 
engaged  in  manufactures  made  vast  fortunes;  while  the  owners  of  land 
were  enabled  to  obtain  enormous  rents,  because  the  consumers  of  food 
increased  more  rapidly  than  the  producers  of  food.  Land  gradually  con¬ 
solidated  itself  in  fewer  hands,  and  the  little  occupant  of  a  few  acres 
gradually  gave  way  to  the  great  farmer,  who  cultivated  hundreds  of  acres 
by  aid  of  hired-labour.  The  few  became  richer,  and  the  many  went  to  the 
poor-house.  The  value  of  labour,  in  food,  was  diminished,  and  the  value 
of  capital  was  also  diminished,  because  both  were,  as  they  still  are,  shut 
out  from  employment  on  land,  the  only  employment  in  which  both  can  be 
used  to  an  indefinite  extent,  with  constant  increase  in  the  return  to  labour.- 

By  degrees,  however,  machinery  was  smuggled  out  of  England,  and 
artisans  escaped  therefrom  ;  and  at  length  there  arose  a  necessity  for  legaliz¬ 
ing  the  export  of  both,  and  from  that  time  it  is  that  manufactures  on  the 
continent  of  Europe  have  made  great  progress.  The  people  there,  however, 
have,  like  ourselves,  laboured  under  great  disadvantages.  England  had  mono¬ 
polized  machinery  for  so  long  a  time  that  she  had  acquired  skill  that  could  not 
readily  be  rivalled  ;  while  she  had,  by  this  improper  division  of  her  popula¬ 
tion,  kept  the  price  ot  labour  and  capital  at  a  lower  point — proportioned  to 
the  advantage  with  which  they  might  have  been  applied — than  among  her 
neighbours.  Her  establishments  were  gigantic,  and  always  ready  tcTsink 
those  who  might  undertake  competition ;  while  the  unceasing  changes  in 
her  monetary  arrangements,  the  necessary  consequences  of  the  colonial 
system,  were  of  themselves  sufficient  to  spread  ruin  among  all  the  nations 
connected  with  her.  Our  own  experience  has  been  that  of  all  the  wofld. 

The  necessary  consequence  of  the  existence  of  such  a  state  of  things, 
was  resistance  by  the  various  independent  nations  of  the  world,  in  the  form 
of  tariffs  of  protection ;  one  of  the  first  results  of  which  was  the  modification  of 
the  law  prohibiting  the  export  of  machinery.  From  that  period  to  the 
present,  she  has  been  engaged  in  an  effort  to  under-work  other  nations, 
despite  their  efforts  to  shut  her  out,  and  with  each  stage  of  her  progress 
the  condition  of  her  operatives,  as  well  as  that  of  her  farm  labourers^  has 
deteriorated.  Women  have  been  substituted  for  men,  and  children  of  the 
most  immature  years  for  women,  and  the  hours  of  labour  have  been  so  far 
extended  as  to  render  Parliamentary  interference  absolutely  necessary. 
That  interference  was  opposed,  on  the  ground  that  all  the  profit  of  the 
machinery  resulted  from  the  running  of  an  additional  hour.  In  the  minino- 
department  of  her  trade,  the  system  is  the  same,  and  it  is  impossible  to 
read  the  Parliamentary  Reports  on  the  condition  of  her  manufacturing  and 
mining  labourers,  without  being  horrified  at  the  awful  consequences  that 
have  resulted  from  this  effort  to  tax  the  world  by  monopolizing  machinery. 
The  moral  effects  are  as  bad  as  the  physical  ones.  Frauds  of  every 
kind  have  become  almost  universal.  Flour  is  substituted  for  cotton,  in  the 
making  up  of  cotton  cloths,  to  such  an  extent  that,  fifteen  years  since,  the 
consumption  for  this  purpose  was  estimated  at  forty-two  millions  of 
pounds.*  The  quality  of  iron,  and  of  all  other  commodities,  is  uniformly 
reduced  to  the  point  that  is  required  for  preventing  other  nations  from  pro¬ 
ducing  such  commodities  for  themselves. 

By  the  census  of  1831,  it  was  shown  that  the  number  of  families  in  England 
and  Wales  was  3,303,504,  of  which  1,170,000  were  those  of  agricultural 
occupants,  or  of  agricultural  and  mining  labourers,  producers  of  things  to  be 


*  «  These  goods  are  generally  smoother  and  more  evenly  made  than  American  fabrics 
of  the  same  cost ;  but  they  must  be  used  in  their  dry  state,  as  in  washing  their  appearance 
is  very  much  changed.” — Dry  Goods  Reporter ,  Nov.  1849. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


13 


converted  or  exchanged ;  leaving  2,133,000  for  the  converters  and  ex¬ 
changers,  and  for  the  money-spending  classes — paupers  on  one  hand,  and 
state  annuitants,  noblemen  and  gentlemen,  on  the  other.  Thus  the  products 
of  one  labourer  had  to  be  divided  among  three. 

By  the  census  of  1841,  it  was  shown  that,  notwithstanding  an  increase  in 
the  last  ten  years  of  630,000  in  the  number  of  adult  males,  there  had  been 
an  actual  diminution  of  19,000  in  the  number  employed  in  agriculture,  and 
thus  we  have  almost  four  persons  to  consume  the  products  of  one. 

Since  that  date,  the  tendency  has  been  in  the  same  direction.  The 
transporters,  converters,  and  exchangers  have  been  steadily  and  rapidly  in¬ 
creasing  in  their  proportion  to  the  producers. 

With  each  step  in  her  progress,  she  thus  becomes  less  a  producer,  and 
more  and  more  a  mere  exchanger,  dependent  upon  the  profits  of  converting 
and  exchanging  the  products  of  other  nations.  This  steadily  increasing 
disproportion  between  the  producers  and  the  exchangers,  brought  about  the 
state  of  things  that  led  to  the  repeal  of  the  corn  laws,  since  the  date  of  which 
there  is  an  evident  increase  in  the  tendency  to  become  a  mere  exchanger  of 
the  works  of  other  men’s  hands.  The  amount  of  her  trade  does  not  grow 
with  the  growth  required  by  this  change.  The  farmer  may  live  and  main¬ 
tain  his  family  out  of  a  crop  of  five  hundred  bushels,  or  even  less.  The 
shopkeeper,  to  live  as  well,  must  pass  through  his  hands  five  thousand 
bushels ;  and  what  is  true  of  the  individual  shopkeeper  is  equally  true  of  a 
nation  of  shopkeepers,  as  I  will  now  show. 

The  man  who  raises  his  own  food,  and  sells  of  it  to  the  amount  of  $100, 
has  that  sum  to  be  applied  to  the  purchase  of  clothing  and  other  of  the  com¬ 
forts  of  life.  He  is  selling  the  product  of  his  own  labour. 

The  man  who  buys  food  to  the  extent  of  $100,  and  sells  his  products  for 
$200,  has  but  $100  to  be  applied  to  the  purchase  of  other  things  than  food. 
To  the  extent  of  one-haJf  he  is  selling  the  produce  of  the  labour  of  others. 

The  man  who  buys  food  and  leather,  each  to  the  extent  of  $100,  must  sell 
$300  worth  of  shoes  to  give  him  $100  to  be  applied  to  the  purchase  of  other 
things  than  food.  To  the  extent  of  two-thirds  he  is  selling  the  labour  of 
others. 

So  is  it  with  nations.  When  they  sell  their  own  products,  their  power 
to  purchase  from  others  is  equal  to  the  whole  amount  sold.  When  they 
sell  the  products  of  others,  whether  in  the  same  or  any  other  form,  their 
power  of  purchase  is  only  to  the  extent  of  the  difference  between  the  price 
paid  and  the  price  received.  The  bale  of  cotton  exported  as  yarn,  is  but  the 
bale  imported  as  wool,  and,  to  the  extent  of  the  cost  of  the  wool,  represents 
no  part  of  the  power  to  purchase  for  consumption.  The  barrel  of  American 
flour  exported  in  the  form  of  cloth  or  iron,  is  but  the  barrel  of  flour  imported, 
and  represents  no  part  of  the  power  to  purchase  coffee,  tea,  or  sugar. 

The  actual  or  declared  value  of  the  exports  of  the  produce  and  manu¬ 
factures  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  was, 

From  1815  to  1819,  annual  average,  .  .  ^644, 000,000 

“  1827  to  1834,  “  “  .  .  38,000,000 

“  1845  to  1848,  “  “  50,500,000 

From  these  sums  is  to  be  deducted,  in  all  cases,  the  cost  of  the  raw  material 
required  fo  produce  the  commodities  exported. 

The  quantity  of  cotton  manufactured  in  the  first  period  amounted  to 
100,000,000  of  pounds  per  annum,  and  the  average  price  was  19  pence,* 


*  McCulloch’s  Com.  Diet.,  art.  Cotton. 


14 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


making  the  whole  cost  about  £8,000,000.  The  value  of  cotton  goods 
exported  was  £16,500,000,  of  which  the  raw  material  may  have  been  about 
£5,500,000. 

The  consumption  of  foreign  wool  was  about  7,000,000  of  pounds  weight, 
and  with  this  exception  the  whole  amount  of  the  export  was  of  domestic 
production.  * 

The  import  of  food  amounted  to  about  1,500,000  quarters,  or  13,500,000- 
bushels  of  60  pounds  weight. 

Putting  together  all  the  foreign  food  and  raw  materials  required  for  the 
product  of  £44,000,000  of  exports,  the  total  cost  could  scarcely  have  ex¬ 
ceeded  £12,000,000,  leaving  £32,000,000  as  the  value  of  domestic  pro¬ 
ducts  and  labour  exported  by  a  population  of  21,000,000,  being  equal’  to 
about  £1T0  per  head,  or  $7*20,  to  be  applied  to  the  purchase  of  foreign 
commodities  for  domestic  consumption. 

In  the  second  period,  the  quantity  of  cotton  manufactured  averaged  about 
275,000,000  of  pounds,  and  the  price  had  fallen  to  about  8 d.,  making  the 
cost  about  £9,000,000.  The  proportion  exported  had  somewhat  increased, 
judging  from  the  difference  between  the  quantity  as  given  by  the  official 
value,  and  the  product  as  given  by  the  declared  value,  and  the  amount 
of  labour  had  decreased,  the  exports  of  mere  yarn  having  risen  from 
£1,200,000  to  between  four  and  five  millions.  The  value  of  the  raw  cotton 
thus  exported  may  have  been  £6,000,000. 

The  quantity  of  foreign  wool  retained  for  home  consumption  had  risen  to 
30,000,000  of  pounds,  being  an  important  portion  of  the  quantity  exported 
in  the  form  of  cloth. 

The  average  import  of  food  was,  as  before  about  1,500,000  quarters. 
If,  now,  we  estimate  the  total  consumption  of  food  and  other  raw  materials 
at  £14,000,000,  and  deduct  that  sum  from  the  amount  of  exports,  we  shall 
have  remaining  £24,000,000  as  the  value  of  the  products  and  labour  ex¬ 
ported  by  a  population  of  23,000,000,  being  about  21s.  or  $5  per  head,  to  be 
appropriated  to  the  purchase  of  foreign  commodities,  other  than  grain,  for 
consumption. 

In  the  third  period,  the  declared  value  of  cotton  goods  exported  had  risen 
to  about  £25,000,000,  and  the  cost  of  the  raw  cotton  required  for  this  pur¬ 
pose,  in  the  year  1846,  was  estimated  at  about,  .  £8,500,000 

And  in  the  year  1847,  at  .  .  .  .  8,800,000 

For  1845  and  1848,  the  average  was  about  .  7,350,000 

making  a  total  average  of  £8,000,000.  To  this  must  now  be  added  the 
wool  of  Australia,  Spain  and  Germany,  of  which  the  manufacture  had  risen 
to  70,000,000  of  pounds  ;  the  silks  of  Italy  and  China;  the  hides,  the  in¬ 
digo  and  other  colouring  materials,  the  gold,  and  innumerable  other  articles 
used  in  the  production  of  this  large  amount  of  manufactures  ;  and  I  shall  be 
safe  in  putting  the  whole  amount,  for  those  years, at  not  less  than  £14,000,000, 
and  it  is  probably  much  more. 

The  import  of  flour  and  grain  averaged  about  6,250,000 
quarters,  and  as  the  last  of  those  years  amounted  to  about 
five  and  a  half  millions,  it  may  be  safe  to  assume  that  the 
average  quantity  required  will  not  fall  materially  short  of  six 
millions,  equal  to  fifty-four  millions  of  bushels  of  sixty  pounds 
each,  and  if  the  cost  of  these  be  averaged  at  4s.  per  bushel,  the 
amount  will  be  .......  £10,800,000* 


*  The  amount  actually  expended  in  fifteen  months  is  stated  to  have  been  £33,000,000. 
This,  however,  was  an  exceptional  case,  and  my  object  is  rather  to  show  from  the  past 
what  may  be  taken  as  an  average  of  future  years. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


15 


If,  now,  we  add  for  vast  quantities  of  live-stock,  pork, 
beef,  lard,  butter,  cheese,  and  other  articles  of  food,  the  whole 
consumption  of  which  was  formerly  supplied  at  home,  only  1,000,000 

We  shall  have  a  total  of .  25,800,000 

To  be  deducted  from  the  gross  amount  of  exports,  and 
leaving  only .  24,700,000 

as  the  value  of  the  export  of  the  products  and  labour  of  the  twenty-seven 
and  a  half  millions  composing  the  population  of  the  United  Kingdom,  being 
about  185.  or  $4*32  per  head,  to  be  applied  to  the  purchase  of  sugar,  tea, 
coffee,  rice,  spices,  and  numerous  other  foreign  articles  of  food — for  lumber, 
tobacco,  foreign  manufactures  of  every  description,  and  for  the  purchase  of 
the  cotton,  silk,  wool,  dye-stuffs,  hides,  &c.  &c.,  required  for  the  manu¬ 
facture  of  clothing  used  at  home. 

We  have  here  a  constantly  diminishing  quanthy  to  be  applied  to  the  pur¬ 
chase  of  various  descriptions  of  food  that  from  luxuries  have  become  neces¬ 
saries  of  life,  and  that  of  the  materials  of  clothing.  It  follows,  of  course, 
that  as  food  is  the  article  of  prime  necessity,  the  amount  that  each  ex¬ 
pends  of  clothing  is  very  small  indeed ;  the  consequence  of  which  is,  that  the 
people  of  England,  engaged  in  furnishing  cheap  clothing  to  all  the  world, 
are  not  only  badly  fed  but  exceedingly  badly  clothed,  the  cost  of  clothing,  in 
labour,  being  so  great  as  to  place  it  beyond  their  reach,*  the  amount  that 
can  be  expended  for  that  purpose  tending  rather  to  decrease.  Whenever  a 
good  crop  causes  a  large  quantity  of  cotton  to  come  to  market,  the  price 
falls  to  the  point  that  is  necessary  to  enable  the  purchaser  at  home  to  ab¬ 
sorb  the  surplus  that  cannot  be  exported ;  and  when  the  crop  is  short,  the 
consumption  is  limited  to  the  quantity  that  can  be  purchased  by  the  small 
amount  to  be  expended.  The  whole  sum  now  applicable  to  this  purpose 
appears  not  to  vary  greatly  from  25.  per  head,  sufficient  to  purchase  three 
pounds  at  8c?.,  or  six  pounds  at  4c?.  This  will  be  seen  by  an  examination 
of  the  following  table : — 


*  By  reference  to  the  report  of  the  Assistant  Commissioner  charged  with  the  inquiry 
into  the  condition  of  women  and  children  employed  in  agriculture,  it  will  be  seen  that  a 
change  of  clothes  seems  to  be  out  of  the  question.  The  upper  parts  of  the  under-clothes 
of  women  at  work,  even  their  stays,  quickly  become  wet  with  perspiration,  while  the 
lower  parts  cannot  escape  getting  equally  wet  in  nearly  every  kind  of  work  in  which 
they  are  employed,  except  in  the  driest  weather.  It  not  unfrequently  happens  that  a 
woman,  on  returning  from  work,  is  obliged  to  go  to  bed  for  an  hour  or  two  to  allow  her 
clothes  to  be  dried.  It  is  also  by  no  means  uncommon  for  her,  if  she  does  not  do  this,  to 
put  them  on  again  the  next  morning  nearly  as  wet  as  when  she  took  them  off. 

The  evidence  laid  before  Parliament  in  regard  to  the  situation  of  the  operatives  in 
coal  mines,  showed  that  men  and  women,  boys  and  girls,  were  accustomed  to  work  to¬ 
gether  in  a  state  of  absolute  and  entire  nudity. 

The  slowness  with  which  the  power  of  consuming  other  articles  than  clothing  has 
grown  is  remarkable. 

In  1803,  that  of  paper  was . .  31,699,537  pounds. 

1841,  with  almost  double  the  population,  only  .  .  97,103,548  “ 

The  great  diminution  in  the  cost  of  cotton  and  linen  cloth  had  been  attended  with  a 
corresponding  reduction  in  the  cost  of  rags,  while  there  had  been  great  improvements  in 
the  mode  of  manufacture.  The  quantity  of  labour  that  could  be  exchanged  against  paper 
had  evidently  diminished. 

The  consumption  of  candles  in  1801,  was  ....  66,999,080  pounds. 

In  1830  it  was .  116,851,305  “ 

having  little  more  than  kept  pace  with  the  population. 


16 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


Average  cost  of  Cotton  in  England.  Home  consumption. 
d. 


1845  . 

.  4| 

.  170  millions 

1846  . 

.  5 

155 

1847  . 

.  6f 

80 

1848  . 

.  4* 

170 

Money  price,  per  head. 

s.  d. 

.  about  2 

“  2  3 
“  1  7 
“23 


We  see,  thus,  that  she  clothes  her  people  at  the  cost  of  the  cotton  planter. 
She  has  a  certain  quantity  of  labour  that  she  can  give  in  exchange  for 
cotton,  and  the  price  of  the  whole  import  is  regulated  thereby.  If  the  crop  is 
large,  she  takes  a  great'  deal  for  the  money;  if  it  is  small,  she  takes  but 
little  ;  and  thus  the  producer  not  only  derives  no  benefit  from  large  crops,  but 
is  so  much  injured  thereby,  that  it  is  actually  more  profitable  to  have  one  of 
2,000,000  of  bales,  than  one  of  2,700,000.  Had  that  of  the  present  year 
reached  three  millions,  he  would  have  been  ruined,  for  freights  would  have 
been  high,  while  prices  abroad  would  have  fallen  to  a  lower  point  than  has 
ever  yet  been  reached. 

Instead  of  applying  her  labour  to  the  cultivation  of  her  own  soil,  she  pur¬ 
sues  a  course  having  for  its  object  that  of  compelling  all  the  farmers  and 
planters  of  the  world  to  make  their  exchanges  in  her  markets,  where  she  fixes 
the  price  for  the  world.  Her  power  to  apply  the  proceeds  of  labour  to  the 
purchase  of  other  commodities  than  those  of  prime  necessity  is  small,  and 
gradually  but  steadily  diminishing;  and  whenever  the  labours  of  the  pro¬ 
ducer  are  rewarded  with  liberal  returns,  he  is  nearly  ruined,  because  the 
price  falls  below  the  cost  of  production. 

The  system  is  altogether  so  remarkable  that  at  some  future  day  it  will  be 
deemed  almost  impossible  that  it  should  ever  have  been  tolerated.  She  has 
a  certain  quantity  of  the  means  of  transportation  and  con  version,  and  being  thus 
provided  she  desires  that  ail  the  cotton  and  sheep’s- wool  of  the  world  shall 
be  brought  to  her,  that  it  may  be  spun  and  woven,  and  that  she  may  take 
toll  for  spinning  and  weaving  it.  The  more  that  is  brought  to  her  the  less 
of  it  she  gives  back  to  the  producer,  and  the  price  she  pays  him  fixes  the 
price  he  receives  from  all  the  world.  How  the  system  works  may  be  seen 
from  the  following  statement : — 

1815  to  1819.  1827-1834.  1845-1846. 

Cotton  consumed,  lbs.  .  .  .  100,000,000  275,000,000  596,000,000 

Value . £8,000,000  9,000,000  11,400,000 

She  pays  for  this  in  cotton-cloth  and  iron,  the  prices  of  which,  at  these 
periods  were  as  follows : — 

A  piece  of  calico,  of  24  yards  .  .  16/6*  7/6f  6/7 

A  ton  of  merchant-bar  iron  .  .  £11+  £7  5  £9  10 

Had  the  whole  been  paid  in  these,  the  planter  would  have  received  of 

Cloth,  pieces .  9,700,000  24,000,000  34,700,000 

Or  iron,  tons .  730,000  1,250,000  1,200,000 

The  additional  freight,  home  and  foreign,  charges,  commissions,  &c.,  in 
the  last  period  were,  at  three  cents  per  pound,  on  496,000,000  of  pounds, 
say  $15,000,000.  For  this  the  planter  would  receive,  in  Liverpool ,  470,000 
additional  tons  of  iron,  the  value  of  which,  in  Liverpool,  at  the  present 
moment,  would  be  about  $11,000,000,  and  thus  he  not  only  gave  away  his 
cotton,  but  gave  with  it  a  large  portion  of  the  cost  of  transportation.  The  whole 
return  to  him  for  600,000,000  was  not  as  great  as  it  had  been  to  100,000,000. 

It  thus  appears  that  notwithstanding  all  the  improvements  in  manufacture, 
the  planter  had  to  give  in  the  last  period  six  times  the  quantity  of  cotton  to 


*  McCulloch’s  Statistics,  Vol.  II.  p.  70. 

i"  This  is  the  average  of  the  years  from  1831  to  1834,  as  given  in  ’Burns’s  Commercial 
Glance,  and  copied  in  the  Merchants’  Magazine,  Vol.  XIX.  p.  277. 

*  Average  of  1817  to  1819 — Merchants’  Magazine,  Yol.  XX.  p.  337. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


IT 


obtain  three  and  a  half  times  the  cloth  that  he  could  have  had  in  the  first _ 

and  six  times  the  quantity  to  obtain  a  smaller  quantity  of  iron.  A  more 
admirable  mode  of  taxing  the  world  was  certainly  never  devised. 

The  result  of  the  system  is,  that  the  productiveness  of  agricultural  labour 
is  declining  in  every  portion  of  the  world  that  does  not  protect  itself  against 
this  “war  upon  labour  and  capital,”  as  I  will  now  show. 

Consumption  is  measured  by  production.  Every  man  is  a  consumer  to 
the  whole  extent  of  his  production.  To  that  point  he  will  go,  and  beyond 
it  he  cannot  go.  The  first  of  his  wants  is  food  ;  next  comes  clothing ;  after 
this  follow  the  conveniences  and  luxuries  of  life.  If  his  productive  power 
increases,  his  power  to  obtain  clothing  increases  rapidly,  because  the  whole 
surplus  is  applicable  to  other  things  than  food.  If  it  diminishes,  his  power 
to  obtain  clothing  diminishes  with  great  rapidity,  for  food  he  must  have.  That 
it  has  diminished,  and  is  now  diminishing  rapidly,  will,  I  think,  be  evident 
from  the  following  facts  : — 

Sixty  years  since,  the  price  paid  by  the  consumers  of  cotton  to  the  pro¬ 
ducers  of  it  was  estimated  at  $40,000, 000. 

From  1827  to  1884,  both  inclusive,  the  crops  of  the  United  States  ave¬ 
raged  945,000  bales,  and  the  home  consumption  about  145,000,  leaving 
800,000  for  export.  The  average  price  was  about  $40  per  bale,  and  the 
product  $32,000,000. 

In  this  period,  India  continued  to  produce  extensively  of  cotton,  and  to 
manufacture  cotton  goods.  The  China  market  was  not  opened  to  the 
free  traders  until  1831,  and  it  required  some  time  to  substitute  the  cotton 
cloth  of  England  for  the  cotton  and  cloth  of  India.  With  every  day  that  has 
since  elapsed,  the  production  of  cotton  has  declined,  as  the  manufacture  has 
been  passing  towrards  annihilation.  Cotton  was  then  extensively  raised  in 
the  West  Indies,  Brazil,  Egypt,  Africa,  Mexico,  and  elsewhere  ;  and  the 
total  product,  exclusive  of  that  of  the  United  States,  was  estimated  at 
450,000,000  of  pounds,  or  about  one-fifth  more  than  that  of  the  Union. 
Averaging  the  whole  at  the  same  price,  we  should  now  obtain  an  annual 
expenditure,  excluding  our  own,  for  cotton  wool,  of  $78,000,000. 

From  1842  to  1848,  both  inclusive,  the  crop  averaged  2,060,000  bales, 
and  the  home  consumption  about  400,000,  leaving  1,660,000  for  export. 
Two  hundred  thousand  of  these  may  be  given  to  the  Zoll-verein,  and 
other  countries  of  Europe  that  have  protected  themselves  against  the  system, 
not  as  the  increased  quantity  actually  taken  under  low  prices,  but  as  that 
which  would  have  gone  at  high  ones,  leaving  1,460,000  for  the  quantity 
that  may  be  supposed  to  be  influenced  by  the  system.  The  average  price, 
during  that  period,  was  seven  and  a  half  cents,  or  $34  per  bale,  and  the 
average  product  of  the  portion  of  the  crop  thus  exported,  $50,000,000. 

Since  then,  the  cultivator  of  this  most  important  commodity,  throughout 
the  world,  has  been  ruined,  and  it  is  greatly  to  be  doubted  if  the  whole  pro¬ 
duction,  outside  of  the  Union,  is  now  more  than  one  half  of  what  it  was  thirty 
years  since;  but,  at  the  utmost,  it  cannot  exceed  270,000,000;  and  if  we 
now  assume  that  quantity,  and,  as  before,  put  the  whole  at  the  same  price, 
we  shall  obtain,  as  the  amount  paid  for  cotton,  by  almost  the  whole  population 
of  the  world,  outside  of  the  Union,  as  follows  : — 

For  the  crop  of  this  country,  .  .  $50,000,000 

For  that  of  the  rest  of  the  world,  .  .  20,000,000 


$70,000,000 

Showing  a  large  reduction,  notwithstanding  the  increase  in  the  number  of 
persons  employed  in  its  production,  and  the  increase  of  those  wrho  should 
consume  it,  and  yet  the  case,  as  here  stated,  does  not  represent  the  real 


18  the  harmony  of  interests. 


diminution  in  the  amount  paid  to  the  producers.  Of  the  cotton  of  India, 
nearly  the  whole  value  is  now  swallowed  up  in  freights,  and  while  the  cost 
to  the  consumer  is  large,  the  yield  to  the  producer  is  scarcely  more  than  two 
cents  per  pound.  A  more  full  examination  of  the  subject  would,  I  believe, 
result  in  showing  that  the  producers  of  cotton,  taken  as  a  body,  do  not  re¬ 
ceive  in  return  for  all  the  clothing  material  that  has  to  so  great  an  extent 
superseded  wool,  flax,  &c.,  from  the  people  of  the  world  outside  of  the 
limits  of  the  Union,  twenty  millions  of  dollars  more  than  they  did  sixty 

years  since.  .  .  rr  -\  a 

A  similar  examination  of  the  movement  in  regard  to  sugar,  coflee,  wool,  and 

other  articles,  would  yield  the  same  results,  for  the  exhaustion  is  every¬ 
where  the  same.  The  whole  effect  of  the  system  is  that  of  reducing 
the  farmer  and  the  planter— the  producers  of  the  good  things  of  the  world— 
to  the  condition  of  an  humble  dependence  upon  the  owners  of  a  quantity  of 
small  machinery  for  the  conversion  of  wool  into  cloth,  that  they  themsel\es 
could  purchase  at  the  cost  of  less  labour  than,  for  want  of  it,  they  waste 

in  each  and  every  year.  , 

Let  us  now  look  to  the  results,  as  exhibited  in  the  immediate  dependencies 

of  England.  *  , 

With  this  vast  increase  in  the  importation  of  food  from  abroad  has  come 
the  ruin  of  the  people  of  Ireland.  Deprived  of  manufactures  and  commerce, 
her  people  were  driven  to  live  by  agriculture  alone,  and  she  was  enabled  to 
drao-  on  a  miserable  existence,  so  long  as  her  neighbour.was  content  to  make 
some  compensation  for  the  loss  of  labour  by  paying  her  for  her  products 
higher  prices  than  those  at  which  they  might  have  been  elsewhere  pur¬ 
chased.  With  the  repeal  of  the  corn  laws,  that  resource  has  failed  ;  and 
the  result  is  a  state  of  poverty,  wretchedness,  and  famine,  that  has  compelled 
the  establishment  of  a  system  which  obliges  the  landowner  to  maintain  the 
people,  whether  they  work  or  not ;  and  thus  is  one  of  the  conditions  of  slaveiy 
re-established  in  that  unhappy  country.  From  being  a  great  exporter  ol 
food,  she  has  now  become  a  large  importer.  The  great  market  for  Indian 
corn  is  Ireland — a  country  in  which  the  production  of  food  is  almost  the  sole 
occupation  of  the  people.  The  value  of  labour  in  food,  throughout  a  popula¬ 
tion  of  eight  millions,  is  thus  rapidly  decreasing.  . 

From  an  inquiry  instituted  by  Lord  Clarendon,  in  1847,  and  conducted 
in  the  most  careful  manner,  it  was  ascertained  that  out  of  20,800,000  acres 
of  which  the  kingdom  consists,  there  were  hut  5,200,000  under  ciop,  and 
that  the  yield  of  cereal  grains,  chiefly  oats,  averaged  10  bushels  (of _70 
pounds)  per  head,  while  that  of  potatoes  was  561  pounds  per  head.  The 
cattle  amounted  to  2,591,000,  or  less  than  one  to  three  persons  of  the  popula¬ 
tion;  the  hogs  to  622,000,  or  one  to  thirteen  ;  and  the  sheep  to  2,186,177, 
or  one  to  four.  Such  are  the  products  of  a  nation,  exclusively  agricultural, 
whose  numbers  were  about  one-half  those  of  the  people  of  the  Union,  at 

i 

our  last  census.  , 

Were  it  possible  now  to  ascertain  the  quantity  of  food,  per  head,  produced 
in  Great  Eritain  and  Ireland,  it  is  probable  that  it  would  be  found  to  be  less 
than  it  was  five  years  since,  and  that  the  whole  quantity,  foreign  and  do¬ 
mestic,  was  not  materially  greater  than  at  that  date.  If  so,  it  follows  that 
the  whole  amount  of  labour  expended  in  purchasing  and  fashioning  the 
cotton  of  other  lands  to  be  given  in  exchange  for  food,  is  lost  labour,  and  that 
the  average  quantity  of  food  and  of  other  commodities  obtainable  throughout 
the  kingdom  in  return  for  any  given  quantity,  tends  downwards  instead  ol 
upwards  ;  and  that  such  is  the  case  there  is  reason  to  believe.  As  evidence 
that  such  is  the  fact,  we  may  take  the  expenditure  for  support  of  paupers, 
which  in  1837  was  £4,207,000,  and  for  1844,  5,  and  6,  averaged  £5,890,000, 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


19 


being  an  increase  of  forty  per  cent,  in  eight  years.  In  1848,  it  had  attained 
the  enormous  height  of  .£7,800,000.  If  now  to  this  we  were  to  add  the 
expenditure  for  the  same  purpose  in  Ireland,  we  should  find  the  growth  to 
he  absolutely  terrific. 

As  a  full  answer  to  this,  the  English  economist  would  point  to  the  in¬ 
creased  consumption  of  certain  commodities  ;  but  that  increase  is  maintained, 
as  we  have  seen,  by  the  oppression  and  ruin  of  the  agriculturist  every¬ 
where.  The  whole  system  has  for  its  object  an  increase  in  the  number  of 
persons  that  are  to  intervene  between  the  producer  and  the  consumer — 
living  on  the  product  of  the  land  and  labour  of  others,  diminishing  the 
power  of  the  first,  and  increasing  the  number  of  the  last;  and  thus  it  is 
that  Ireland  is  compelled  to  waste  more  labour  annually  than  would  be  re¬ 
quired  to  produce,  thrice  over,  all  the  iron,  and  convert  into  cloth  all  the  cotton 
and  wool  manufactured  in  England.  The  poverty  of  producers  exists 
nearly  in  the  ratio  in  which  they  are  compelled  to  make  their  exchanges  in 
the  market  of  Great  Britain,  foregoing  the  advantages  that  would  result  to 
them  from  the  free  exercise  of  the  power  of  associating  for  the  purpose 
of  combining  their  exertions,  and  thus  rendering  their  labour  more  effective. 

The  manufacturers  of  India  have  been  ruined,  and  that  great  country  is 
gradually  and  certainly  deteriorating  and  becoming  depopulated,  to  the  sur¬ 
prise  of  those  of  the  people  of  England  who  are  familiar  with  its  vast 
advantages,  and  who  do  not  understand  the  destructive  character  of  their 
own  system.  The  London  Economist  says  : — 

M  Looking  to  our  Indian  empire,  we  cannot  but  be  struck  with  the  singular  facilities 
which — in  climate,  soil,  and  population — it  presents  to  the  commerce  of  Great  Britain.  At 
first  sight,  it  seems  to  offer  every  thing  that  could  be  devised,  in  order  to  induce  to  a  com¬ 
mercial  intercourse  almost  without  limit.  There  is  scarcely  one  important  article  of  tro¬ 
pical  produce  which  is  consumed  in  this  country,  either  as  the  raw  material  of  our  manu-  , 
factures,  or  as  an  article  of  daily  use,  for  the  production  of  which  India  is  not  as  well,  or 
better,  adapted  than  any  other  country  ;  while  its  dense  and  industrious  population  would 
seem  to  offer  an  illimitable  demand  for  our  manufactures.  Nor  are  there  opposed  to 
these  natural  and  flattering  elements  of  commerce  any  fiscal  restrictions  to  counteract  their 
beneficial  results.  Indian  produce  has  long  entered  into  consumption  in  the  home 
markets  on  the  most  favourable  terms ;  while,  in  the  introduction  of  British  manufactures 
into  India,  a  very  moderate  duty  is  imposed.  Yet,  notwithstanding  all  these  advantages, 
it  is  a  notorious  fact,  deducible  alike  from  the  tendency  which  the  supply  of  some  of  the 
most  important  articles  of  Indian  produce  show  to  fall  off,  and  from  the  stagnant,  or  rather 
declining,  state  of  the  export  of  our  manufactures  to  those  markets — and,  perhaps,  still 
more  so,  from  the  extremely  unprofitable  and  unsatisfactory  result  which  has  attended 
both  the  export  and  import  trade  with  India  for  some  time  past, — that  there  exist  some 
great  and  serious  impediments  to  the  realization  of  the  just  and  fair  hopes  entertained 
with  regard  to  our  Indian  trade.” 

Another  writer*  speaks  of  it  as  a  country  whose  exports  are  rapidly 
diminishing.  Sugar,  he  says,  does  not  increase,  while  indigo  decreases, 
and  cotton  is  reduced  one-third  to  one-half.  The  revenue  is  deficient. 
Gazerat  and  Cutch,  which  once  supplied  cotton  to  half  the  world,  have 
almost  ceased  to  produce  it.  The  growth  and  manufacture  of  cotton  have 
disappeared  from  Bengal,  which  once  gave  to  the  world  the  Dacca  muslins, 
the  finest  in  the  world.  Cotton  fields  have  everywhere  relapsed  into 
jungle. 

Year  after  year  we  are  told  of  efforts  being  made  to  increase  the  pro¬ 
duct  and  improve  the  quality  of  India  cotton,  and  yet  year  after  year  the 
prospect  of  improvement  becomes  more  remote,  and  necessarily  so,  because 
agricultural  improvement  under  the  existing  impoverishing  system  is  im- 


*  London  correspondent  of  the  National  Intelligencer. 


20 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


possible.  For  a  short  period,  premiums  were  granted  on  what  is  called 
free  sugar — to  wit,  that  raised  by  the  wretched  Hindoo  who  perishes  of 
starvation,  the  consequence  of  the  system — and  while  that  policy  was  main¬ 
tained  its  cultivation  made  some  progress,  but  since  the  abolition  of  the  re¬ 
strictions  on  slave-grown  sugar,  every  thing  tends  downward.* 

Ireland  and  India  are  thus  in  the  same  condition.  The  West  Indies  are 
ruined,  and  Canada,  Nova  Scotia,  and  New  Brunswick,  now  seek  annexa¬ 
tion,  that  they  may  have  protection  from  a  system  under  which  they  are 
beino-  ruined.  The  owner  of  land,  everywhere,  knows  that  it  would  be 
doubled  by  the  change,  and  the  labourer  transfers  himself  to  the  south  of 
the  boundary-line,  that  he  may  find  employment  and  good  wages,  which 
cannot  be  found  at  the  north  of  it.  Those  who  remain  north  of  it  now 
anxiously  seek  for  admission  for  their  grain,  because  protection  maintains 

a  market  that  now  they  cannot  have. 

In  the  existing  state  of  things  they  have  to  compete  with  the  low-priced 
labour  of  Russia  and  Poland,  and  are  ruined.  They  desire,  therefore,  that 
their  competition  may  be  with  the  protected  farmers  and  labourers  of  the 

Union.  ,  .  _  .  , 

Lord  Sydenham,  in  a  letter  to  Lord  John  Russell,  which  accompanied 

his  Report  on  Emigration  to  Upper  Canada,  observed  : 

«  Give  me  yeomen,  with,  a  few  hundred  pounds  each,  who  will  buy  cleared  farms, 
not  throw  themselves  into  the  bush,  and  I  will  ensure  them  comforts  and  independence 
at  the  end  of  a  couple  of  years— pigs,  pork,  flour,  potatoes,  horses  to  ride,  cows  to  milk— 
but  you  must  eat  all  your  produce,  for  devil  a  purchaser  is  to  be  found:  however,  the  man's 
wants  are  supplied,  and  those  of  his  family;  he  has  no  rent  or  taxes  to  pay,  and  he 
ought  to  be  satisfied.” 

Here  is  the  cause  of  the  desire  for  annexation  that  now  exists  throughout 
Canada.  There  are  no  consumers  at  hand,  and  the  farmer  cannot  exchange 
his  corn  for  cloth  or  iron,  the  consequence  of  which  is,  that  labour  and  land 
are  almost  valueless.  So  is  it  everywhere.  Every  colony  therefore  desires 
to  separate  itself  from  England,  and  all  would  gladly  unite  with  these  United 
States,  and  for  no  other  reason  than  that  they  might  have  protection. 

That  the  colonial  system  is  rapidly  approaching  its  close  must,  I  think, 
be  obvious  to  all  who  take  the  trouble  to  inform  themselves  of  the  condition 
of  the  people  of  her  colonies,  who  have  been  compelled  to  bear  with  it ;  and 
thence  satisfy  themselves  that  the  independent  nations  of  the  world  must 
continue  to  increase  and  to  strengthen  their  measures  of  resistance  until  it 
shall  be  ended,  that  thenceforth  there  may  be  perfect  freedom  of  trade. 

It  is  “a  war  upon  the  labour  and  capital  of  the  world.”  Its  object  is  that 
of  preventing  the  spinner  and  weaver  from  combining  their  efforts  with  those 

*  “  For  many  years  they  [Messrs.  Arbuthnot  &  Co.,  of  Madras]  have  been  the  most  ex¬ 
tensive  manufacturers  of  sugar  in  Southern  India,  converting  to  the  extent  of  thousands 
of  tons  annually  the  coarse  jaggery  made  by  the  ryots  into  the  fine  product  which  finds 
its  way  into  the  market ;  but  the  attempt  to  raise  the  cane  was  first  tried  about  two  or 
three  years  since,  and  it  is  needless  to  say  that  no  cost  or  skill  was  spared  to  render  it 
successful.  Planters  were  brought  from  tire  West  Indies  at  liberal  salaries  to  direct  the 
cultivation,  and  machinery  of  the  most  complete  and  extensive  character  was  imported 
from  England  to  irrigate  the  soil  and  manufacture  the  sugar  on  the  spot.  No  project 
could  possibly  be  set  on  foot  under  circumstances  more  favourable,  but  the  upshot  is  that 
the  land  taken  in  Rajahmundry  and  Dawlaisliwarum  has  been  relinquished,  and  the 

cattle  turned  into  the  fields  of  standing  cane.  *  *  *  * 

«  The  question  of  competition  to  be  maintained  on  the  existing  system  with  the  West 
Indies  and  the  countries  in  which  slave  labour  prevails  must  rest  for  future  consideration. 
At  present  we  have  arrived  at  the  important  conclusion,  that,  under  the  most  favourable 
circumstances,  we  cannot  hope  to  alter  the  present  mode  of  cultivating  the  sugar-cane  in 
Southern  India.” — Athenaeum. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


21 


of  the  farmer  and  planter, — compelling  the  latter  to  work  alone,  and 
therefore  disadvantageously,  and  then  to  give  two-thirds  of  the  crop  for  the 
maintenance  of  horses  and  wagons,  ships  and  men,  brokers  and  merchants, 
whose  services  would  not  be  needed  were  the  system  abolished.  Its  effects 
have  been  everywhere,  to  render  men  depressed  and  poor.  Desiring  to 
liberate  themselves  from  it  our  ancestors  made  the  Revolution,  and  the  Cana¬ 
dians  have  now  formed  a  league,  induced  thereto  by  their  observance  of  the 
wonderful  results  that  have  been  here  obtained. 

Thus  far,  the  system  has  been  maintained  at  home  by  this  power  to  tax 
the  world  for  its  support.  India  contributes  three  millions  sterling  per  annum,* 
but  there  is  a  gradual  diminution  in  the  power  to  pay.  Canada  and  the  West 
Indies  have  paid  their  share,  but  the  connection  with  the  former  is  likely 
soon  to  be  at  an  end,  and  the  latter  are  ruined.  This  country  is  the  main 
support  of  the  system,  but  that  support  is  gradually  being  withdrawn,  and 
when  it  shall  be  absolutely  so,  the  destructive  effects  of  it  upon  England  her¬ 
self  will  become  fully  obvious.  It  will  then  be  seen  that  the  wealth  of  that 
country  is  really,  to  use  the  words  of  Carlyle,  but  a  magnificent  “sham.” 
The  few  are  rich,  but  the  many  are  poor,  and  the  mass  of  wealth  is  by  no 
means  great. 

The  whole  amount  of  capital  invested  in  buildings,  machinery,  &c.  for 
the  cotton  manufacture,  in  1834,  was  estimated  at  twenty  millions  of  pounds 
sterling!  or  less  than  a  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  being  only  double  what 
has  been  expended  in  the  effort  to  bring  into  activity  the  anthracite  coal 
mines  of  Pennsylvania.  She  has  also  machinery  for  the  production  of  a  large 
amount  of  coal  and  iron,  but  the  same  quantity  could  be  produced  in  this 
country  in  a  few  years,  without  an  effort.  She  has  made  a  considerable 
amount  of  rail-roads,  but  she  broke  down  under  the  effort,  and  yet  roads  are 
made  in  that  country  at  far  less  cost  than  here,  and  we  have  now  more 
miles  in  operation. 

The  nominal  cost  of  her  roads  is  great,  because  the  prices  paid  for  land 
are  high,  and  large  sums  are  paid  to  lawyers,  conveyancers,  &c.,  &c., 
but  these  are  merely  transfers  of  property,  not  investments  of  it.  The  real 
investment  is  only  the  labour  employed  in  grading  the  road,  erecting  the 
bridges,  and  getting  out  the  iron,  and  the  cost  of  these  per  mile  is  less  than 
for  any  well-made  road  in  this  country.  The  power  of  England  to  make 
investments  of  labour  is  less  than  half  of  what  it  was  in  this  country  from 
1844  to  1847,  and  less  than  one-third  of  what  it  would  now  be  had  the  pro¬ 
duction  of  coal,  and  iron,  and  cotton  goods  been  allowed  to  increase  at  the 
rate  at  which  it  was  then  increasing.  Her  system  tends  to  the  enrich¬ 
ment  of  the  few,  and  hence  there  results  a  show  of  wealth  far,  very  far,  be¬ 
yond  the  reality. 

The  impoverishing  effects  of  the  system  were  early  obvious,  and  to  the 
endeavour  to  account  for  the  increasing  difficulty  of  obtaining  food  where  the 
whole  action  of  the  laws  tended  to  increase  the  number  of  consumers  of 
food,  and  to  diminish  the  number  of  producers,  was  due  the  invention  of  the 
Malthusian  theory  of  population,  now  half  a  century  old.  That  was  fol¬ 
lowed  by  the  Ricardo  doctrine  of  Rent,  which  accounted  for  the  scarcity  of 
food  by  asserting,  as  a  fact,  that  men  always  commenced  the  work  of  cultiva¬ 
tion  on  rich  soils,  and  that  as  population  increased  they  were  obliged  to 
resort  to  poorer  ones,  yielding  a  constantly  diminishing  return  to  labour,  and 
producing  a  constant  necessity  for  separating  from  each  other,  if  they  would 

*  “Altogether  it  has  been  calculated  that  the  tribute  which  India  pours  into  the  lap 
of  England  is  at  least  equal  to  three  millions  sterling. — Parker's  Progress  of  the  Nation. 
Yol.  iii.  p.  354. 

f  McCulloch’s  Statistics,  Yol.  2,  page  75. 


22 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


obtain  a  sufficiency  of  food.  Upon  this  theory  is  based  the  whole  English 
politico-economical  system.  Population  is  first  supposed  to  be  superabundant, 
when  in  scarcely  any  part  of  the  earth  could  the  labour  of  the  same  num¬ 
ber  of  persons  that  now  constitute  the  population  of  England  obtain  even  one- 
half  the  same  return.  Next,  it  is  supposed  that  men  who  fly  from  England 
go  always  to  the  cultivation  of  rich  soils,  and  therefore  every  thing  is  done 
to  expel  population.  Lastly,  it  is  held  that  their  true  policy  when  abroad  is 
to  devote  all  their  labour  to  the  cultivation  of  those  rich  soils,  sending  the  pro¬ 
duce  to  England  that  it  may  be  converted  into  cloth  and  iron,  and  they  are 
cautioned  against  any  interference  with  perfect  freedom  of  trade  as  “  a  war 
upon  labour  and  capital.” 

Colonization  is  urged  on  all  hands,  and  all  unite  in  the  effort  to  force  emi¬ 
gration  in  the  direction  needed  to  raise  up  “colonies  of  customers.”  It  is 
impossible  to  read  any  work  on  the  subject  without  being  struck  with 
the  prevalence  of  this  “  shopkeeping”  idea.  It  is  seen  everywhere. 
Hungary  was  to  be  supported  in  her  efforts  for  the  establishment  of  her  in¬ 
dependence,  because  she  was  willing  to  have  free  trade,  and  thus  make  a 
market  for  British  manufactures.  The  tendency  of  the  Ricardo-Malthusian 
system  to  produce  intensity  of  selfishness  was  never  more  strikingly  mani¬ 
fested  than  on  that  occasion. 

It  happens,  unfortunately,  that  the  system  is  without  a  base,  the  fact  being 
exactly  the  reverse  of  what  it  is  stated  by  Mr.  Ricardo  to  be.  Throughout 
the  world,  and  at  all  periods  of  time,  men  have  commenced  the  work  of  cul¬ 
tivation  upon  the  poorer  soils,  leaving  to  their  successors  the  clearing  of  river 
bottoms  and  the  draining  of  swamps ;  and  the  increase  of  population  it 
has  been  that  has  everywhere  enabled  men  to  subject  rich  soils  to  cultivation.* 
Food,  therefore,  tends  to  grow  faster  than  population,  when  no  disturbing 
causes  exist,  and  in  order  that  the  increase  of  population  may  take  place, 
it  is  indispensable  that  the  consumer  take  his  place  by  the  side  of  the  pro¬ 
ducer.  When  that  is  not  the  case,  the  inevitable  consequence  is  that  the 
waste*  of  labour  is  great,  and  that  the  perpetual  cropping  of  the  land  return¬ 
ing  to  it  none  of  the  refuse,  exhausts  the  land  and  its  owner,  and  compels 
the  latter  to  fly  to  other  poor  soils,  increasing  the  transportation  and  dimin¬ 
ishing  still  further  the  quantity  of  cloth  and  iron  to  be  obtained  in  return  to 
a  given  amount  of  labour. 

We  thus  have  here,  first,  a  system  that  is  unsound  and  unnatural,  and 
second,  a  theory  invented  for  the  purpose  of  accounting  for  the  poverty  and 
wretchedness  which  are  its  necessary  results.  The  miseries  of  Ireland  are 
charged  to  over-population,  although  millions  of  acres  of  the  richest  soils  of 
the  kingdom  are  waiting  drainage  to  take  their  place  among  the  most  pro¬ 
ductive  in  the  world,  and  although  the  people  of  Ireland  are  compelled  to 
waste  more  labour  than  would  pay,  many  times  over,  for  all  the  cloth 
and  iron  they  consume.!  The  wretchedness  of  Scotland  is  charged  to  over- 


*  For  a  full  examination  of  this  question  I  must  refer  to  my  book,  “  The  Past,  the  Pre¬ 
sent,  and  the  Future.” 

-f-  Of  single  counties,  Mayo,  with  a  population  of  3S9,000,  and  a  rental  of  only  300,000?., 
has  an  area  of  1,364,000  acres,  of  which  800,000  are  waste!  No  less  than  470,000  acres, 
being  very  nearly  equal  to  the  whole  extent  of  surface  now  under  cultivation,  are  declared 
to  be  reclaimable.  Galway,  with  a  population  of  423,000,  and  a  valued  rental  of  433,000?., 
has  upwards  of  700,000  acres  of  waste,  410,000  of  which  are  reclaimable!  Kerry,  with 
a  population  of  293,000,  has  an  area  of  1,1 86,000  acres— 727,000  being  waste,  and  400,000 
of  them  reclaimable!  Even  the  union  of  Glenties,  Lord  Monteagle’s  ne  plus  ultra  of  re¬ 
dundant  population,  has  an  area  of  245,000  acres,  of  which  200,000  are  waste,  and  for 
the  most  part  reclaimable,  to  its  population  of  43,000.  While  the  barony  of  Ennis,  that 
abomination  of  desolation,  has  230,000  acres  of  land  to  its  5,000  paupers  a  proportion 
which,  as  Mr.  Carter,  one  of  the  principal  proprietors,  remarks  in  his  circular  advertise- 


i 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


23 


population  when  a  large  portion  of  the  land  is  so  tied  up  by  entails  as  to 
forbid  improvement,  and  almost  to  forbid  cultivation.  The  difficulty  of  ob¬ 
taining  food  in  England  is  ascribed  to  over-population,  when  throughout  the 
kingdom  a  large  portion  of  the  land  is  occupied  as  pleasure  grounds,  by 
men  whose  fortunes  are  due  to  the  system  which  has  ruined  Ireland  and 
India.*  Over-population  is  the  ready  excuse  for  all  the  evils  of  a  vicious 
system,  and  so  will  it  continue  to  be  until  that  system  shall  see  its  end,  the 
time  for  which  is  now  rapidly  approaching. 

To  maintain  it,  the  price  of  labour  in  England  must  be  kept  steadily  at 
a  point  so  low  as  to  enable  her  to  underwork  the  Hindoo,  the  German,  and 
the  American,  with  all  the  disadvantage  of  freight  and  duties.  To  termi¬ 
nate  it,  the  price  of  labour  in  England  must  be  raised  to  such  a  point  as  will 
prevent  that  competition  and  compel  her  to  raise  her  own  food,  leaving  others 
to  consume  their  own,  and  such  must  be  the  result  of  the  thorough  adoption 
of  the  protective  system,  even  by  the  United  States  alone. 

The  cause  of  the  difficulty  in  which  England  now  finds  herself  is  the 
unnatural  disproportion  between  consumers  and  producers.  Men  are  cheap 
and  therefore  undervalued.  Establish  a  market  for  these  men,  and  their 
value  will  rise,  and  such  will  be  the  effect  in  every  part  of  Europe.  We 
have  seen  that  immigration  into  this  country  increased  in  the  period  between 
1830  and  1834,  from  twelve  to  sixty-seven  thousand ;  that  from  that  period  to 
1843  it  remained  almost  stationary  ;  and  that  in  the  last  four  years  it  has 
more  than  trebled.  Now,  let  us  suppose  that  the  system  of  1828  had  been 
maintained,  and  that  the  mining  of  coal,  the  smelting  and  rolling  of  iron, 
and  the  manufacture  of  cotton  and  woollen  cloths,  &c.  had  gone  on  uninter¬ 
ruptedly,  producing  a  great  demand  for  labour  to  be  employed  in  the  various 
branches  of  manufacture,  in  the  making  of  roads,  the  clearing  of  lands  and 
the  building  of  houses,  and  that  the  inducements  for  emigration  to  this 
country  had  been  constantly  increasing  to  such  an  extent  as  to  cause  the 


ment  for  tenants,  “is  at  the  rate  of  only  one  family  to  230  acres;  so  that  if  but  one  head 
of  a  family  were  employed  to  every  230  acres,  there  need  not  be  a  single  pauper  in  the 
entire  district;  a  proof,”  he  adds,  “that  nothing  but  employment  is  wanting  to 
set  this  country  to  rights  !”  In  which  opinion  we  fully  coincide. —  Westminster  Re¬ 
view; 

*  Poulett  Scrope,  a  member  of  the  British  Parliament,  has  inserted  in  the  London 
Morning  Chronicle  seven  letters  of  Notes  of  a  Tour  in  the  United  Kingdom,  with  a  view 
to  ascertain  whether  the  labouring  population  be  really  redundant.  His  general  conclusion 
is  expressed  in  these  terms: — “  I  have  selected  striking  illustrations  in  support  of  the  view 
I  have  always  entertained,  and  which  is  at  length  obtaining  very  general  acquiescence  : 
namely,  that  the  population  of  the  United  Kingdom  is  not  really  in  excess ;  that  the  land 
is  everywhere — even  in  the  most  seemingly  over-peopled  and  pauperized  districts  of 
Ireland — amply  capable  of  repaying  the  employment  of  additional  labour  to  an  indefi¬ 
nite  extent,  if  only  judicious  use  be  made  of  it  by  those  whom  the  law  has  intrusted  with 
its  ownership,  and  that  the  law  itself  be  so  modified  as  to  encourage,  instead  of  discour¬ 
aging,  improvement,  to  secure  to  industry  its  due  reward,  and  to  neglect  and  mismanage¬ 
ment  its  fitting  punishment.” 

The  notes  on  Ireland,  afford  a  frightful  picture  of  one  of  the  many  evils  with  which 
that  country  is  afflicted : 

“  In  Galway  Union,  recent  accounts  declared  the  number  of  poor  evicted,  and  their 
homes  levelled  within  the  last  two  years,  to  equal  the  numbers  in  Kilrush — 4,000  families 
and  20,000  human  beings  are  said  to  have  been  here  also  thrown  upon  the  road,  house¬ 
less  and  homeless.  I  can  readily  believe  the  statement,  for  to  me  some  parts  of  the 
country  appeared  like  an  enormous  graveyard — the  numerous  gables  of  the  unroofed 
dwellings  seemg^l  to  be  gigantic  tombstones.  They  were,  indeed,  records  of  decay  and 
death  far  more  melancholy  than  the  grave  can  show.  Looking  on  them,  the  doubt  rose 
in  my  mind,  am  I  in  a  civilized  country?  Have  we  really  a  free  constitution?  Can 
such  scenes  be  paralleled  in  Siberia  or  Caffraria  ?” 


24 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


ratio  of  increase  from  1830  to  1834  to  be  maintained,  and  see  what  would 
have  been  the  result.  By  the  year  1839  it  would  have  reached  300,000, 
and  five  years  after  it  would  have  exceeded  a  million,  and  the  growth  would 
every  year  have  been  more  rapid,  for  the  demand  for  labour  would  have  in¬ 
creased  faster  than  the  supply.  .  .  i  j  i  m 

Before  this  time,  the  flight  from  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  alone  would 

have  far  exceeded  half  a  million  per  annum,  and  what  would  be  the  effect 
of  such  a  state  of  things  may  be  conceived  by  those  who  read  the  following 
article  which  I  take  from  the  London  Times. 

The  flight  of  a  quarter  of  a  million  inhabitants  of  these  islands  to  distant  quarters  of 
the  world  in  1847,  was  one  of  the  most  marvellous  events  in  the  annals  of  human  mi¬ 
gration.  The  miserable  circumstances  under  which  the  majority  left  their  homes,  the 
element  traversed  in  quest  of  a  refuge,  the  thousands  of  miles  over  which  the  dreary  pil¬ 
grimage  was  protracted,  the  fearful  casualties  of  the  voyage  by  shipwreck,  by  famine 
and  by  fever,  constituted  a  fact  which  we  believe  to  be  entirely  without  precedent,  and 
compared  with  which  the  irruption  of  the  northern  races  into  southern  Europe  became 
mere  summer’s  excursions ;  but,  perhaps  the  marvel  of  the  event  is  surpassed  this  year. 
The  impetus,  or  rather  the  combination  of  impelling  causes,  no  longer  exists.  It  might 
be  supposed  that  so  extensive  a  drain  had  exhausted  the  migratory  elements  of  the 

nation.  . .  .  r  . 

It  might  also  be  expected  that  the  countries  which  last  year  could  not  receive  the  fugi¬ 
tive  masses  without  much  difficulty  and  complaint,  would  have  offered  vehement  protests 
against  an  immediate  renewal  of  the  hungry  invasion.  It  is,  nevertheless,  the  fact  that 
the  migration  of  this  year  is  nearly  equal  to  that  of  the  last.  The  grand  total  from  all  the 
British  ports  for  the  first  eleven  months  of  last  year  was  244,251;  for  the  first  eleven 
months  of  this  year,  220,053.  Nor  do  these  figures  represent  the  whole  truth  of  the 
case.  They  are  merely  the  numbers  of  those  who  embarked  at  ports  where  there  are 
government  emigration  officers,  and  who  have  passed  under  official  review.  Some  thou¬ 
sands  of  the  better  class  of  emigrants  are  not  included  in  the  census..  There  can,  there¬ 
fore,  be  no  doubt  that  in  these  two  years  more  than  half  a  million  natives  of  these  islands 

have  fled  to  other  shores.  . 

The  annual  migration,  it  appears,  is  now  approaching  the  annual  increase  of  our  popu¬ 
lation,  which  is  vulgarly  magnified  into  a  thousand  a  day,  but  in  fact  is  not  more  than 
about  290,000  in  the  year.  Now,  it  is  not  to  be  imagined  for  a  moment  that  Great 
Britain,  at  all  events,  has  reached  the  limit  of  its  population.  The  capital,  the  stock  and 
the  “  plant”  of  the  island  are  continually  increasing  and  have  lately  increased  more  ra¬ 
pidly  than  ever.  They  also  demand  more  and  more  hands  for  their  further  develop¬ 
ment  Under  ordinary  circumstances,  therefore,  we  should  be  justified  in  dreading  a 
migration  which  left  the  population  stationary ;  and  which,  with  a  view  to  the  growing 
trade  and  resources  of  the  country,  was  rather  a  depopulation  than  anything  else.  At  all 
events,  the  fact  suggests  that  a  spontaneous  movement  of  so  gigantic  a  character  may  well 
be  left  to  itself,  and  requires  no  artificial  stimulus.  The  matter  certainly  has  come  to 
that  pass  which  makes  caution  the  first  duty  of  the  state. 

It  is  from  Ireland  that  we  draw  our  rough  labour.  The  Celt  and  we  are  bound  to 
give  him  credit  for  it — is  the  hewer  of  wood  and  drawer  of  water  to  the  v-axon.  Can 
we  spare  that  growing  mine  of  untaught  but  teachable  toil?  The  great  works  of  this 
cowitry  depend  on  cheap  labour.  The  movement  now  in  progress  bids  fair  to  affect  that 

condition  of  the  national  prosperity.  The  United  States  gain  what  we  lose. 

• 

Protection  is  a  measure  of  necessary  defence  against  a  system  that  tends 
to  lessen  everywhere  the  value  of  labour,  and  if  applied  effectually,  the  cor¬ 
rection  will  be  speedy,  and  thenceforward  trade  may  everywhere  be  free. 
To  those  who  doubt  this,  I  would  recommend  an  examination  of  the  effects 
that  would  now  result  from  the  abolition  of  the  tariff,  and  the  substitution  of 
free  trade  for  the  present  imperfect  protection.  They  could  not  but  see  that 
it  would  close  every  mill  and  furnace  in  the  Union,  cutting  off  a  demand  for 
600,000  bales  of  cotton,  and  a  supply  of  700,000  tons  of  iron.  Where 
then  should  we  sell  the  one,  or  where  buy  the  other?  The  labourer  in  fac¬ 
tories  and  furnaces  would  then  grow  food,  but  the  market  abroad  lor  lood  is 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


25 


now  almost  closed* — or  cotton,  and  the  market  for  cotton  is  already  ruined 
whenever  the  crop  touches  the  point  of  two  millions  and  a  half  of  bales. 
Protection  is  right  or  wrong.  Free  trade  is  right  or  wrong.  If  protection 
is  right,  it  should  be  complete  and  fixed,  until  no  longer  needed.  If  free 
trade  is  right,  custom-houses  should  be  abolished.  Halfway  measures  are 
always  wrong. 

The  direct  effect  of  the  maintenance  of  the  present  system,  that  of  1848, 
is  to  cause  renewed  efforts  on  the  part  of  England  for  engrossing  the  market 
of  this  country,  whereas  a  return  to  that  of  1842,  were  it  made  with  the  ap¬ 
probation  and  consent  of  all  parts  of  the  Union,  would  be  followed  by  results 
that  would  compel  a  change  of  policy.  The  direct  effect  of  a  thorough  and 
complete  change  in  our  system  would  be,  that  of  teaching  the  whole  people 
of  England  that  if  they  “  expect  to  be  prosperous  and  happy,  they  must 
seek  those  blessings  in  the  steady  pursuit  of  a  British  policy — in  cultivating 
domestic  resources — in  protecting  domestic  interests — in  drawing  closely 
the  bonds  of  concord,  strengthened  hy  the  ties  of  mutual  dependence  among 
themselves,  and  abandoning  the  shadowy  and  delusive  expectation  of  find¬ 
ing  compensation  in  foreign  commerce  for  the  destruction  of  the  springs  of 
domestic  consumption.” 

The  harmony  of  all  real  interests  among  nations  is  perfect.  The  system 
of  England  is  rotten  and  unsound — injurious  to  herself  and  to  the  world. 
It  is  the  cause  of  pauperism  and  wretchedness  at  home  and  abroad,  and  the 
more  effective  the  measures  that  may  be  adopted  for  the  purpose  of  com¬ 
pelling  its  abandonment,  the  better  will  it  be  for  her  and  for  ourselves.  The 
road  to  absolute  freedom  of  trade  lies  through  perfect  protection. 

-r 

CHAPTER  SIXTH. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  COMMERCE. 

Commerce  is  an  exchange  of  equivalents.  The  greater  the  number  of 
commodities  produced,  the  greater,  other  things  being  equal,  will  be  the 
number  of  exchanges.  Commerce  tends,  therefore,  to  grow  with  the  in¬ 
crease  of  production. 

The  machine  of  production  is  the  earth.  The  instrument  by  aid  of 
which  it  is  made  to  produce  is  man.  To  induce  man  to  labour,  he  must  feel 
confident  of  obtaining  an  equivalent ;  and  the  larger  that  equivalent,  the  stronger 
will  be  the  inducement  to  exertion.  The  more  advantageously  his  powers  are 
applied,  the  larger  will  be  the  production,  and  the  larger  the  equivalent  of  a 
given  quantity  of  labour. 

One  man  raises  grain  and  another  sugar.  Each  desires  to  exchange  with 
the  other,  giving  labour  for  labour. 

*  The  present  price  of  flour  in  England  varies  little  from  $5.  What  is  likely  soon  to  be 
the  price  of  pork,  may  be  judged  of  from  the  following,  which  I  take  from  the  papers  of 
the  day. 

A  London  letter,  under  date  of  Oct.  12,  from  a  mercantile  house  extensively  engaged  in 
the  trade,  says:  “  We  have  the  pleasure  to  hand  you  annexed  our  price  current,  in  which 
you  will  see  the  comparative  imports  for  the  last  three  years;  the  present  year  showing 
an  excess  of  25,000  packages  of  American  bacon  more  than  the  last.  The  general  ex¬ 
pectation  with  us  is  that  prices  must  be  very  low  the  approaching  season,  from  the  in¬ 
crease  of  hogs  in  Ireland  and  Germany,  and  the  very  great  production  of  hogs  and  all 
kinds  of  meat  in  this  country  more  than  usual.  We  incline  to  the  opinion  that  should 
the  same  quantity  and  quality  of  American  come  to  this  market  the  next,  as  during  the 
past  season,  one-half  of  it  will  have  to  be  sold  for  soap  purposes.  You  will  have  heard 
that  our  government  contract  for  pork  was  taken  at  10/  per  cwt.  less  than  last  year,  which 
we  think  is  a  pretty  fair  criterion  of  the  market.” 


26 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


The  quantity  of  grain  that  must  be  given  for  sugar  is  dependent  upon  the 
quantity  of  both  produced.  If  the  season  be  favourable  for  the  first,  the 
crop  will  be  large.  If  unfavourable  for  the  second,  the  crop  will  be  small. 
Much  grain  will  then  be  given  for  little  sugar,  and  vice  versa,  if  the  season 
be  favourable  for  sugar  and  unfavourable  for  grain,  much  sugar  will  be 
given  for  little  grain.  In  either  case  both  parties  suffer,  and  commerce  is 
diminished.  Each  is  therefore  directly  interested  in  doing  whatever  may 
be  in  his  power  to  increase  the  returns  to  the  labour  of  his  neighbour,  and 

thus  increase  the  extent  of  commerce.  .  . 

To  increase  production  is,  then,  to  increase  commerce.  By  ascertaining 
the  circumstances  which  tend  to  limit  the  one,  we  shall  ascertain  those  which 
tend  to  limit  the  other.  To  do  so,  it  is  needed  only  to  call  to  our  aid  a  few 
simple  laws  that  may  be  found  in  any  treatise  of  natural  philosophy. 
They  are  these  : — 

First.  The  greater  the  power,  other  circumstances  being  equal,  the  greater 


will  be  the  effect.  c 

The  producer  of  food  labours  every  day  and  all  day.  The  producer  ot 

sugar  labours  but  three  days  in  the  week.  The  quantity  of  food  produced 
is  large  and  that  of  sugar  small.  The  food-producer  gives  much  food  for 
little  sugar — much  labour  for  little  labour.  > 

What  is  true  of  individuals  is  equally  true  of  communities.  If  the  com¬ 
munity  of  food-producers  work  every  day,  and  that  of  sugar-producers  hut 
three  days  in  the  week,  the  whole  of  the  first  will  be  taxed  because  of  the  in¬ 
dolence  of  the  last,  and  commerce  will  be  diminished.  If  the  whole  community 
of  food-producers  work  every  day,  and  one  half  of  that  of  iron-producers  do 
not  work _ or  if  they  apply  their  labour  to  other  works  than  those  of  produc¬ 
tion _ the  quantity  of  iron  produced  will  be  small,  and  much  food  will  be 

given  for  little  iron.  If  the  food-producing  community  could  induce  the 
workers  in  iron  to  labour  every  day  and  all  day,  there  would  be  more  iron  to 
be  o-iven  for  food,  commerce  would  be  increased,  and  all  would  profit  thereby. 
By  what  means  could  this  be  accomplished  ?  To  ascertain  this,  we  must 
inquire  the  causes  of  their  working  so  little.  Doing  so,  we  might  find  that 
amono-  them  there  was  a  large  proportion  perfectly  able  to  labour  produc- 
tivelyt  but  unwilling  so  to  do ;  that  some  of  them  employed  themselves  in 
carrying  muskets,  casting  cannon,  building  forts  and  palaces,  constructing 
ships  of  war  and  sailing  in  them  ;  and  that  others  did  nothing  except  so  far 
as  they  were  employed  in  devising  modes  of  enabling  them,  out  of  the  labour  of 
others,  to  support  themselves  and  those  employed  in  the  various  operations  to 
which  I  have  referred;  and  that  hosts  of  others  were  employed  in  carrying 
back  and  forth  the  products  of  the  lands  of  others,  and  keeping  accounts  of 
what  they  did,  and  that  thus  one  half  of  the  community  produced  nothing, 
while  consuming  much.  The  other  half  we  might  find  to  consist  of  men  who 
were  sometimes  willing  to  work  but  not  able,  having  no  work  to  do,  and  at  others 
able  but  not  willing,  because  of  the  small  equivalent  obtained,  by  reason  of  the 
necessity  for  contributing  so  large  a  portion  of  their  earnings  to  the  support  of 
those  who  carried  the  muskets,  built  the  ships  and  kept  the  accounts ;  and  the 
result  might  be,  that  we  should  find  that,  although  the  food-producers  gave 
much,  the  iron-producers  received  little,  the  principal  part  being  swallowed  up 
by  the  intermediate  men,  who  consumed  much  while  producing  nothing.  It  is 
obvious  that  if  all  worked,  there  would  be  three  times  as  much  iron  produced, 
that  commerce  would  be  increased,  and  that  the  producer  of  food  would  ob¬ 
tain  far  more  iron  as  the  equivalent  of  far  less  food.  The  food-producing 
community  is  therefore  contributing  largely  towards  the  support  of  those  of 
the  iron-producing  one  who  are  able  to  work  and  not  willing  to  do  so ; 
and  their  condition  will  be  improved  if  they  can  induce  those  who  are  able 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


27 


and  willing  to  work  to  come  forth  from  among  those  who  are  neither  able  nor 
willing,  leaving  the  latter  class  to  produce  food  and  iron  for  themselves.  The 
amount  of  power  to  be  applied  will  be  increased,  and  the  product  will  be 
greater,  while  there  will  be  fewer  among  whom  to  divide  it.  The  return  to 
labour  will  be  larger,  and  the  power  of  accumulation  will  be  increased. 

Second.  The  more  directly  power  is  applied,  the  greater  is  its  effect. 

The  producers  of  food  and  iron  are  distant  from  each  other,  and  the  labour 
required  for  effecting  their  exchanges  is  great.  The  one  obtains  his  iron  by 
the  indirect  process  of  raising  food  for  distant  men.  The  other  obtains  his 
food  by  that  of  making  iron  for  distant  men,  and  many  horses  and  wagons, 
ships  and  men,  stand  between  them.  The  friction  is  great  and  production 
is  small.  The  equivalents  to  be  exchanged  are  few  in  number,  and  com¬ 
merce  is  limited.  The  equivalent  of  a  day’s  labour  in  either  food  or  iron  is 
small.  If  the  producer  of  iron  could  draw  near  to  the  producer  of  food,  the 
number  of  horses  and  wagons,  ships  and  men,  standing  between  them,  would 
be  diminished,  and  the  number  of  producers  would  be  increased.  The 
equivalents  to  be  exchanged  would  increase  in  number,  commerce  would 
grow,  and  the  equivalent  of  a  day’s  labour  would  be  greater. 

Third.  The  more  steadily  power  is  applied,  the  greater  is  its  effect.  At 
one  moment  the  wind  blows  a  gale,  while  at  another  there  is  a  calm.  The 
steam-engine  works  every  day  and  all  day,  and  although  the  amount  of  power 
applied  is  less,  the  voyage  is  made  in  shorter  time.  To  secure  the  steady 
application  of  power,  the  air-chamber  is  provided,  and  the  force  produced  by 
the  action  of  the  piston-rod  is  by  its  aid  distributed  over  the  whole  period 
intervening  between  the  strokes. 

The  producer  of  food  is  often  idle.  At  other  times  he  is  moderately  em¬ 
ployed.  In  harvest  times  he  is  hurried,  and  he  loses  part  of  his  crop  for 
want  of  aid.  If  he  could  have  an  air-chamber,  by  aid  of  which  his  efforts 
could  be  divided  over  the  year,  the  equivalent  obtained  for  his  labours  would 
be  largely  increased. 

The  producer  of  iron  may  labour  at  all  seasons,  but  a  large  portion  of  his 
work — the  mining  of  coal  and  ore — may  be  done  in  advance,  and  when  he 
has  a  stock  on  hand  he  can  suspend  his  operations  for  a  season.  If  the 
producer  of  food  could  induce  him  to  come  and  labour  in  his  vicinity,  he 
could  at  one  period  of  the  year  help  him  to  mine  or  transport  ore  and  fuel, 
and  the  other  could,  at  another  period,  aid  him  in  gathering  his  crop.  The 
first  could  then  cultivate  more  land,  and  the  equivalent  of  labour,  in  both 
food  and  iron,  would  be  increased,  and  commerce  would  grow  in  extent  with 
the  increase  of  equivalents  to  be  exchanged. 

Fourth.  The  more  perfect  the  machinery  the  smaller  will  be  the  quantity 
required,  the  less  will  be  the  friction,  and  the  greater  will  be  the  effect.  The 
iron  wheels  of  the  engine  encounter  little  friction  in  passing  on  the  iron 
rail,  and  the  force  of  a  man’s  hand  moves  tons,  where,  if  applied  to  a  cart¬ 
wheel,  it  could  not  move  a  hundred. 

The  producer  of  food  obtains  from  the  distant  iron  man  small  supplies 
of  iron  as  the  equivalent  of  large  quantities  of  food.  He  is  therefore  obliged 
to  use  wood  where  he  would  desire  to  use  iron.  The  friction  is  great,  and 
labour  is  unproductive.  The  equivalent  of  a  day’s  labour  is  small.  If  he 
could  induce  the  iron  man  to  come  near  him,  the  equivalent  of  labour  would 
be  largely  increased,  and  he  could  use  iron  in  place  of  wood. 

Fifth.  The  more  enduring  the  machinery,  the  smaller  will  be  the  quantity 
of  labour  required  for  its  reproduction,  and  the  greater  will  be  the  quantity 
that  may  be  given  to  the  production  of  further  machinery.  The  wooden  post 
rots,  and  must  be  replaced.  The  iron  one  endures  almost  for  ever. 

The  producer  of  food,  distant  from  the  producer  of  iron,  builds  ships,  and 


28 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


fences  his  land  with  wooden  posts.  Much  of  his  time  is  occupied  in  repairing 
and  renewing  them.  If  he  could  induce  the  producer  of  iron  to  live  near 
him,  he  would  assist  in  building  furnaces,  and  might  then  use  iron  posts ; 
and  then  labour  that  would  otherwise  be  employed  in  renewing  old,  might 
be  given  to  creating  new  machinery  of  other  kinds,  to  aid  in  the  wmrk  of 
production,  and  the  equivalent  of  a  day’s  labour  would  be  increased. 

We  see,  thus,  that  the  larger  the  quantity  of  labour,  and  the  more  directly 
and  steadily  it  is  applied,  and  the  more  perfect  and  enduring  the  machinery 
by  which  it  is  aided,  the  larger  is  the  return  to  labour,  and  the  greater  the 
number  of  equivalents  to  be  exchanged. 

Let  us  now  suppose,  first,  that  one  community  has  it  in  its  power  to  mo¬ 
nopolize  the  production  of  iron,  and  that  of  its  members  many  spend  all 
their  time  in  idleness,  while  others  are  but  occasionally  employed — that  many 
spend  their  time  in  carrying  muskets  on  their  shoulders,  while  very  many 
are  dissolute  and  drunken — and  that  the  result  is,  that  the  quantity  of  iron 
produced  is  but  one  half  or  one-third  of  what  it  would  otherwise  be.  Com¬ 
merce  is  but  an  exchange  of  equivalents,  and  the  quantity  of  food  that  must 
be  given  for  a  ton  of  iron  is  double  what  it  would  otherwise  be.  It  is  obvious 
that  the  food-producing  community  is  taxed  for  the  support  of  the  idle  and 
worthless  members  of  the  iron-producing  community. 

Second.  That,  in  addition  to  all  this,  the  iron-producing  community  is 
thus  enabled  to  compel  the  food-producing  community  to  be  idle,  when  their 
labours  are  not  needed  on  the  farm,  and  to  lose  their  crops  for  wrant  of  aid  in 
harvest.  It  is  obvious  that  here  is  a  second  tax  imposed  for  the  support  of 
the  non-workers  among  the  producers  of  iron. 

Third.  That  the  scarcity  of  iron  compels  the  food-producing  community 
to  use  wagons  and  common  roads  when  they  might  have  railroads,  and  to 
give  to  the  work  of  transportation  ten  days’  labour  instead  of  one.  Here, 
again,  we  have  a  tax  imposed  for  the  support  of  the  non-workers  among  the 
producers  of  iron.  The  food-producers  are  compelled  to  transport  their 
products  to  a  distance,  and  deprived  of  the  power  to  make  roads  by  which 
to  do  it. 

Fourth.  That  the  producers  of  food  are  compelled  to  employ  more  labour 
in  building  ships  and  wagons,  and  other  perishable  machinery,  than  would 
have  been  sufficient  to  build  the  furnaces  and  rolling  mills,  enduring  ma¬ 
chinery,  required  to  give  them  all  the  iron  they  consumed.  Here  we  have  a 
fourth  tax  imposed  for  the  support  of  the  non-workers  among  the  producers 
of  iron. 

Each  one  of  these  operations  tends  to  diminish  the  number  of  equivalents 
that  may  be  exchanged,  the  number  of  exchanges  made,  and  the  equivalent 
of  a  day’s  labour,  in  food,  iron,  or  other  of  the  comforts  or  conveniences  of 
life,  and  the  result  is,  that  the  product  of  labour  is  scarcely  one-fifth  of  what 
it  would  be,  were  all  productively  employed. 

These  things  premised,  we  may  now  examine  the  working  of  the  colonial 
system. 

Colonists  are  men  who  work.  Of  those  who  remain  behind,  a  large,  por¬ 
tion  do  not  work.  Some  live  in  poor-houses,  and  others  in  palaces.  Some 
dance  and  sing,  and  others  carry  muskets.  Some  build  ships  of  war,  and 
others  sail  in  them.  The  producers  are  few.  The  non-producers  are  many ; 
yet  they  must  eat,  drink,  wear  clothing,  and  have  houses,  and  these  things  must 
be  provided  for  them  by  those  who  work.  If  all  worked,  the  quantity  of  iron 
produced  would  be  large,  and  those  who  produced  food  would  get  much 
iron  in  exchange.  As  few  desire  to  work,  and  all  must  eat,  the  colonial 
system  was  invented  for  the  purpose  of  compelling  colonists  to  give  much  food 
and  wool  for  little  iron.  The  consequence  has  been  everywhere  the  same. 


THE  HARMONY  OP  INTERESTS. 


29 


While  thus  taxed  for  the  maintenance  of  the  money-spending  classes,  the 
colonists  everywhere  have  been  compelled  to  waste  much  labour,  to  work 
writh  poor  riiachinery,  and  to  give  more  of  the  products  of  labour  for  the  use 
of  that  which  is  perishable  than  would  have  produced  that  which  would 
endure  almost  for  ever.  Production  is  small.  The  equivalents  to  be  ex¬ 
changed  are  diminishing  in  number.  Commerce  is  perishing. 

The  Irishman  is  compelled  to  waste  much  labour.*  He  works  with  poor 
machinery.  He  gives  half  the  product  of  his  labour  for  the  use  of  wagons 
and  ships.  He  eats  his  crop  of  potatoes,  and  goes  in  rags.  He  has  nothing 
to  exchange.!  He  flies  to  America,  and  the  number  of  exchanges  to  be  made 
in  Ireland,  and  from  Ireland,  is  thus  diminished. 

The  Hindoo  flies  from  the  valleys  and  plains  to  the  hills,  that  he  may  escape 
from  the  system.  Arrived  at  the  hills,  he  finds  no  demand  for  his  labour  but  in 
the  cultivation  of  his  little  piece  of  land.  He  works  with  poor  machinery, 
and  his  miserable  product  of  fifty  pounds  of  cotton  to  the  acre  is  transported 
to  Manchester,  thence  to  be  returned  to  him  in  the  form  of  cloth,  getting  one 
pound  for  ten  ;  and  thus  giving  nine-tenths  of  his  labour  for  the  use  of  ships 
and  wagons,  perishable  machinery,  when  one-fifth  would  have  done  the 
work  at  home,  could  he  have  had  permanent  machinery.  He  flies  again, 
or  he  dies  of  famine  and  pestilence,  or  he  sells  himself  as  a  slave,  to  go'  to 
Demerara ;  and  thus  is  the  number' of  the  exchanges  of  India,  and  from 
India,  diminished. 

Men  are  everywhere  flying  from  British  commerce,  which  everywhere  pur¬ 
sues  them.  Having  exhausted  the  people  of  the  lower  lands  of  India,  it  follows 
them  as  they  retreat  towards  the  fastnesses  of  the  Himalaya.  Afghanistan 
is  attempted,  while  Scinde  and  the  Punjaub  are  subjugated.  Siamese 
provinces  are  added  to  the  empire  of  free  trade,  and  war  and  desolation 
are  carried  into  China,  in  order  that  the  Chinese  may  be  compelled  to  pay 
for  the  use  of  ships,  instead  of  making  looms.  The  Irishman  flies  to  Canada ; 
but  there  the  system  follows  him,  and  he  feels  himself  insecure  until  within 
this  Union.  The  Englishman  and  the  Scotchman  try  Southern  Africa,  and 
thence  they  fly  to  the  more  distant  New  Holland,  Van  Diemen’s  Land,  or 
New  Zealand.  The  farther  they  fly,  the  more  they  must  use  ships  and 
other  perishable  machinery,  the  less  steadily  can  their  efforts  be  applied,  the 
less  must  be  the  power  of  production,  and  the  fewer  must  be  the  equivalents 
to  be  exchanged,  and  yet  in  the  growth  of  ships,  caused  by  such  circum¬ 
stances,  we  are  told  to  look  for  evidence  of  prosperous  commerce ! 

The  British  system  is  built  upon  cheap  labour,  by  which  is  meant  low 


*  In  1S42,  three  years  before  the  potato  rot,  Ireland  was  thus  described  by  an  English 
traveller :  “  Throughout  the  south  and  west  of  Ireland,  the  traveller  is  haunted  by  the  face 
of  the  popular  starvation.  It  is  not  the  exception — it  is  the  condition  of  the  people.  In  this 
fairest  and  richest  of  countries,  men  are  suffering  and  starving  bij  millions.  There  are 
thousands  of  them,  at  this  minute,  stretched  in  the  sunshine  at  their  cabin  doors  with  no 
work,  scarcely  any  food,  no  hope  seemingly.  Strong  countrymen  are  lying  in  bed,  '■for  the 
hunger' — because  a  man  lying  on  his  back  does  not  need  so  much  food  as  a  person  a-foot. 
Many  of  them  have  torn  up  the  unripe  potatoes  from  their  little  gardens,  and  to  exist  now 
must  look  to  winter,  when  they  shall  have  to  suffer  starvation  and  cold  too.’' — Thackaray. 
Irish  Sketch  Book. 

f  People  with  whom  starvation  is  “  the  condition”  of  life,  consume  little  of  that  clothing 
which  England  furnishes  in  exchange  for  so  much  labour. 

“  Everywhere,  throughout  all  parts,  even  in  the  best  towns,  and  in  Dublin  itself,  you  will 
meet  men  and  boys — not  dressed,  not  covered — but  hung  round  with  a  collection  of  rags  of 
unrivalled  variety,  squalidity,  and  filth — walking  dunghills.  *  *  *  No  one  ever  saw 

an  English  scarecrow  with  such  rags.” — Quarterly  Review. 

Transferred  to  this  country,  every  one  of  these  men  would  become  a  large  consumer  oi 
food  and  cotton,  and  thus  commerce  would  be  increased. 


30 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


priced  and  worthless  labour.*  Its  effect  is  to  cause  it  to  become  from  day 
to  day  more  low  priced  and  worthless,  and  thus  to  destroy  production  upon 
which  commerce  must  be  based.  The  object  of  protection  is  to  produce 
dear  labour,  that  is,  high-priced  and  valuable  labour,  and  its  effect  is  to  cause 
it  to  increase  in  value  from  day  to  day,  and  to  increase  the  equivalents  to  be 
exchanged,  to  the  great  increase  of  commerce. 

The  object  of  what  is  now  called  free-trade  is  that  of  securing  to  the 
people  of  England  the  further  existence  of  the  monopoly  of  machinery,  by 
aid  of  which  Ireland  and  India  have  been  ruined,  and  commerce  prostrated. 
Protection  seeks  to  break  down  this  monopoly ,  and  to  cause  the  loom  and 
the  anvil  to  take  their  natural  places  by  the  side  of  the  food  and  the  cotton, 
that  production  may  be  increased,  and  that  commerce  may  revive.  How 
far  it  has  tended  here  to  produce  that  effect  we  may  now  examine. 

Prior  to  the  passage  of  the  tariff  of  1828,  our  exchanges  of  iron  amounted 
to  only  25  pounds  per  head.  By  1832  they  had  increased  to  46  pounds 
per  head.  Commerce  thus  had  grown.  From  1834  to  1841,  they  averaged 
45  pounds  per  head.  Commerce  was  stationary.  In  1841  and  ’42,  it  fell  to 
38  pounds.  Commerce  had  fallen  with  what  was  called  free-trade.  From 
1844  to  1847,  the  equivalents  of  iron  to  be  exchanged  had  increased  to  97 
pounds  per  head.  Commerce  had  grown  with  protection.  They  are  now  73 
pounds  per  head.  Commerce  has  fallen  with  the  diminution  of  protection. 
If  we  turn  now  to  coal,  cotton,  woollens,  ships,  or  railroads,  similar  facts 
meet  us  everywhere.  The  number  of  exchanges  grows  with  the  system 
that  looks  to  the  elevation  of  the  labourer.  It  diminishes  with  that  which 
,  looks  for  its  growth  to  the  depression  of  the  labourer.  The  interests  of 
I  commerce  are  therefore  in  perfect  harmony  with  those  of  manufactures  and 
agriculture. 

The  one  system  repels  population.  The  other  attracts  it,  and  hence  it 


*  The  poor  silk  weaver  described  in  the  following  paragraph,  which  I  take  from  the 
London  Spectator ,  is  the  type  of  the  system.  He  works  so  ‘  cheap’  that  he  starves  the  poor 
Hindoo,  and  then  starves  himself.  “  His  cas q  would  not  be  cured  by  protection.”  What  he 
needs  is  the  transfer  of  his  labour  from  what  is  here  called  “  production,”  but  what  is 
really  only  the  conversion  of  the  products  of  others,  to  that  only  thing  which  can  be  called 
production,  and  which  consists  in  an  increase  of  the  quantity  of  commodities  to  be  con¬ 
sumed.  He  merely  changes  their  form  from  silk  to  silken  cloth.  Were  his  labours 
employed  on  any  of  the  many  millions  of  rich  yet  waste  land  within  the  kingdom,  he 
would  obtain  more  and  better  food,  at  less  cost  of  labour.  He  could  then  feed  better,  and 
have  more  to  offer  in  exchange.  Commerce  would  then  grow. 

“Nearer  to  us,  in  the  outlying  parts  of  the  metropolis,  the  traveller  of  (T.he  Morning 
Chronicle’  describes  regions  where  the  people  are  hopelessly  contending  with  a  system  of 
industry  that  is  fostered  by  commerce,  because  it  yields  1  profit,’  and  is  peopled,  because  it 
sometimes  yields  subsistence— the  means  of  keeping  body  and  soul  together,  though  not 
always  that.  We  know  that  the  describer  does  not  exaggerate.  Many  and  many  a  man 
toils,  with  others  of  his  family,  from  dark  before  the  dawn  until  far  into  the  next  night,  as 
long  as  human  endurance  will  last,  and  then  the  produce  of  their  industry  falls  short  of 
subsistence.  You  say,  ‘it  is  a  decaying  trade.’  It  is  not  a  decaying  trade:  read  ‘The 
Morning  Chronicle,’  and  see  how  the  workman  makes  silk  which,  in  spite  of  free  trade, 
not  only  beats  the  Frenchman  out  of  the  market,  it  is  so  good  and  so  ‘cheap,’  but  is  fur¬ 
ther  cheapened  to  bribe  customers  with  reductions  of  prices  filched  from  the  wages  of  the 
miserable  workman.  Protection  would  not  cure  that  man  s  case.  Go  round  the  district, 
stranger  to  you  than  Brussels,  Lyons,  or  Genoa,  and  survey  the  dull,  level  aspect  of  poverty 
over  all — poor  workpeople,  poor  small  tradesmen — a  town  of  back  streets.  See  the  number 
of  shops  dealing  in  articles  at  second  hand— not  merely  pawn-shops,  but  small  clotlies- 
dealers,  traders  in  shop-marked  stationery,  dealers  in  apples  that  have  seen  better  years 
in  happier  regions;  the  very  grocery  looks  window-stained.  Production,  production,  in 
a  ceaseless  round,  but  not  enough  subsistence  for  that  sad  nation;  many  things  made  and 
sold,  and  resold,  but  too  few  of  them  things  to  eat.” 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


31 


is  that  we  see  the  whole  people  of  Europe  anxious  to  reach  our  shores. 
Abolish  protection  and  immigration  will  cease,  and  commerce  will  diminish, 
for  there  will  be  less  cloth  and  iron  to  be  exchanged  against  labour.  Make 
protection  perfect  and  permanent,  and  immigration  will  increase  rapidly, 
for  there  will  be  more  cloth  and  iron  to  be  exchanged  against  labour. 

Were  Ireland  this  day  free,  she  would  establish  protection  and  thus  arrest 
emigration.  Food,  and  cloth,  and  iron,  would  become  more  abundant,  and 
commerce  would  grow.  Were  Canada  independent,  she  would  establish  pro¬ 
tection,  and  then  she  would  retain  the  immigrant  coming  from  Ireland  or  Eng¬ 
land.  Were  India  independent,  she  too  would  establish  protection,  and  then 
the  culture  of  cotton  would  be  resumed  on  the  rich  lands  of  Bengal.  In  all 
these  cases  production  would  be  increased,  and  the  power  to  maintain 
commerce  would  grow.  The  people  of  the  United  States  are  the  best  cus¬ 
tomers  to  the  people  of  England,  because  they  are  in  some  degree  pro¬ 
tected  against  the  exhaustion  consequent  upon  the  existence  of  their  sys¬ 
tem.  Ireland  cannot  buy,  and  she  is  reduced  to  beg.  Were  she  independent 
she  would  make  iron,  and  then  she  could  buy  fine  cloths,  silks,  books  and 
pictures.  The  well-understood  interests  of  all  nations  are  in  perfect  har¬ 
mony  with  each  other. 

The  object  of  free  trade  is  proclaimed  to  be  the  increase  of  commerce, 
but  commerce  withers  under  it.  Ireland  now  consumes  a  pound  of  cotton 
per  head.  Transfer  an  Irishman  here,  and  he  will  consume  a  dozen  pounds, 
and  700,000  of  her  people  would  make  more  trade  between  the  producers  and 
consumers  of  cotton  than  is  now  maintained  with  the  whole  eight  millions 
of  Ireland.  Were  she  free,  she  would  adopt  protection,  and  trade  would 
grow,  for  she  would  then  need  six  pounds  per  head.  The  commerce  of  the 
Zollverein  has  grown  with  protection.  The  people  of  Germany  now  con¬ 
sume  two  pounds  of  cotton  where  before  they  consumed  but  one.  The  com¬ 
merce  of  India  diminishes  with  every  approach  to  what  is  called  free  trade. 
The  producers  of  cotton  on  the  lower  lands  of  Bengal  could  have,  as  the 
equivalent  of  a  day’s  labour,  quadruple  the  iron  that  can  be  obtained  now 
that  the  cultivator  of  that  commodity  has  been  driven  to  seek  the  high  and 
poor  lands. 

The  free  trader,  so  called,  says  to  the  farmer,  “You  can  have  English  iron 
in  New  York  for  thirty  bushels  of  wheat,  but  you  must  hand  over  to  the 
Treasury  ten  bushels  for  permission  to  make  the  exchange.  If  you  take  a 
ton  of  American  iron,  you  must  give  to  the  producer  of  it  forty  bushels, 
and  thus  are  you  taxed  ten  bushels  for  the  support  of  the  iron  man.” 
Abolish  protection  and  we  shall  have  more  food  to  sell  abroad  and  more  iron 
to  buy  abroad,  and  will  need  more  wagons  and  ships,  and  it  will  then  take 
sixty  bushels  of  wheat — perhaps  even  one  hundred — to  pay  for  a  ton  of  iron. 
The  quantity  to  be  exchanged  will  then  fall  to  20  pounds  per  head,  and 
commerce  will  be  diminished. 

The  farmer  has  his  choice  between  giving  thirty  bushels  for  the  support  of 
the  people  who  dance  and  sing  and  live  in  palaces,  and  that  of  those  who 
carry  muskets,  or  ten  for  the  maintenance  of  the  government  under  which 
he  lives.  The  more  he  gives  to  the  first,  the  more  and  the  longer  he  must 
continue  to  give,  the  poorer  he  must  grow,  and  the  less  will  be  the 
power  to  maintain  commerce.  That  such  is  the  case  will  be  obvious 
from  an  examination  of  facts  given  in  the  last  chapter.  In  the  years 
from  1827  to  1834,  275,000,000  pounds  of  cotton  would  have  purchased 
1,250,000  tons  of  iron.  In  1845-6,  600,000,000  were  required  to  pay  for 
1,200,000  tons.  What  became  of  the  difference  ?  Were  the  English  miners 
better  clothed?  On  the  contrary,  it  was  but  little  before  that  time  that  it 


32 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


I 


was  made  known  to  the  world  that  males  and  females  worked  together  in 
the  mines,  absolutely  naked.  Was  the  condition  of  the  people  better?  On 
the  contrary,  Ireland  was  fast  becoming  a  great  poor-house,  and  the  poor- 
rates  of  England  were  fast  advancing  to  the  point  they  have  now  attained, 
that  of  £8,000,000  per  annum.  What  then  went  with  the  difference  ?  The 
question  may  be  answered  by  pointing  to  the  vast  increase  of  public  expen-  | 
diture  in  the  last  fifteen  years,  during  which  the  number  of  men  who  carry 
muskets  and  build  ships  of  war  has  been  so  largely  increased  ;  to  the  innum¬ 
erable  and  expensive  commissions  for  ascertaining  the  causes  of  distress  and 
pauperism  ;  to  the  great  fortunes  of  bankers  and  successful  speculators ; 
to  men  like  Hudson,  the  rail-road  king;  to  the  large  number  who  have 
in  the  late  railroad  speculation  realized  immense  fortunes,  as  engineers, 
solicitors,  counsellors  and  parliamentary  agents,  and  to  the  host  of  others 
who  fatten  on  the  people.  The  productive  power  is  diminishing,  and  the 
few  become  greater  as  the  many  become  less.  With  every  step  in  the 
progress  of  the  latter,  the  power  to  maintain  commerce  diminishes,  for  the 
people  become  poorer,  and  the  power  to  produce  commodities  to  be  given  in 
exchange  becomes  more  and  more  limited. 

Whatever  the  occurrence  that  tends  to  diminish  production,  whether  wars 
or  revolutions,  the  increase  of  armies  and  fleets  without  the  actual  occurrence 
of  war,  or  the  increase  of  inequality,  the  few  becoming  richer  and  the  many 
poorer,  the  effect  is  to  impose  a  tax  upon  the  consumers  of  the  commodity 
the  production  of  which  is  thus  restrained.  Under  a  system  of  real  freedom 
of  trade  the  chief  portion  of  this  tax  would  be  paid  by  the  actors  themselves, 
for  the  immediate  effect  of  such  occurrences  would  be  that  of  stimulating 
other  nations  to  increased  exertions  to  fill  the  vacuum  that  had  been  created. 
Under  the  system  which  gives  to  one  nation  a  monopoly  of  the  machinery 
for  converting  the  products  of  other  nations,  a  large  portion  of  the  tax  may 
be,  and  is  thrown  upon  them,  and  thus  are  they  made  to  contribute  largely 
towards  the  maintenance  of  all  that  class,  poor  and  rich,  who  prefer  to  live 
by  the  labour  of  others. 

We  have  seen  that  the  quantity  of  cotton  consumed  in  1845  and  ’46 
averaged  596,000,000  pounds,  that  the  price  of  gray  cloth  was  6s.  Id.,  and 
that  34,700,000  pieces  delivered  in  Liverpool  would  have  been  required  to 
pay  for  the  cotton  also  delivered  in  Liverpool — all  freights,  charges,  &c., 
being  thus  left  for  the  planter  to  pay. 

The  average  work  of  operatives  in  this  country  would  be  the  conversion  of 
4000  pounds  of  cotton  into  cloth  of  this  description.  In  England,  we  may 
set  it  down  at  3000,  and  this  would  require  200,000  to  convert  the  whole 
quantity.  Allowing  them  to  average  even  £30  each,*  the  wages  would 
amount  to  £6,000,000,  and  the  product  would  be  92,000,000  of  pieces, 
35,000,000  of  which  would  pay  for  the  cotton,  leaving  57,000,000 

Worth . £19,000,000 

From  which  deduct  the  labour  performed,  say,  6,000,000t 

And  there  remain  for  interest,  profits,  &c.,  .  £13,000,000 

In  order  that  large  profits  be  realized,  it  is  necessary  that  the  price  of  the 
raw  material  be  kept  low;  a  state  of  things  which  results  necessarily  from 
the  quantity  requiring  to  be  converted  bearing  a  large  proportion  to  the  ma¬ 
chinery  prepared  for  its  conversion.  The  mode  of  accomplishing  this  is 
simple.  The  first  indication  of  a  tendency  to  rise  in  the  price  is  met  by 

*  The  result  of  careful  inquiry,  in  1833,  gave  10s.  5 d.  as  the  average  of  operatives, 
male  and  female,  mechanics,  engineers,  &c.  This  would  be  £27,  Is.  8 d.  for  the  year. 

j-  This  is  2| d.  per  pound,  which  is  much  more  than  the  truth. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


33 


working  short  hours,  the  effect  of  which  is  to  diminish  the  wages  of  labour  to 
a  point  so  near  the  cost  of  food  and  rent,  and  taxes  on  both,  that  the  power  of 
purchasing  clothing  is  almost  destroyed ;  and  therefore  it  is  that  we  see  such 
prodigious  changes  in  home  consumption  whenever  a  small  rise  of  prices 
takes  place.  The  stock  begins  to  accumulate,  and  with  its  accumulation 
the  price  falls.  Mills  again  run  full  time,  and  so  they  continue  until  another 
rise  takes  place,  when  the  same  operation  is  performed,  as  is  at  this  moment 
being  the  case. 

The  exchanger,  owner  of  machinery,  thus  stands  between  the  labourer 
who  produces,  and  the  labourer  who  consumes  the  cotton,  fixing  the  price 
for  both,  and  taking  for  himself  the  largest  share ;  and  thus  it  is  that  men 
accumulate  colossal  fortunes,  while  surrounded  by  men,  women,  and  children 
living  in  poverty  and  clothed  in  rags.*  Of  the  burden  thus  thrown  upon 

*  Rothschild  may  be  taken  as  the  type  of  the  whole  system,  and  the  following  notice 
of  him  and  of  his  modes  of  taxing  those  by  whom  he  was  surrounded,  furnishes  a  pic¬ 
ture  of  the  speculators  of  every  kind,  in  England,  who  live  at  the  cost  of  the  labourers  of 
the  world  : — 

c;  The  name  of  Nathan  Meyer  Rothschild  was  in  the  mouths  of  all  city  men  as  a  pro¬ 
digy  of  success.  Cautiously,  however,  did  the  capitalist  proceed,  until  he  had  made  a 
fortune  as  great  as  his  future  reputation.  He  revived  all  the  arts  of  an  older  period.  He  em¬ 
ployed  brokers  to  depress  or  raise  the  market  for  his  benefit,  and  is  said  in  one  day  to 
have  purchased  to  the  extent  of  four  millions.  The  name  of  Rothschild  as  contractor  for 
an  English  loan  made  its  first  public  appearance  in  1819.  But  the  twelve  millions  for 
which  he  then  became  responsible  went  to  a  discount.  It  was  said,  however,  that  Mr. 
Rothschild  had  relieved  himself  from  all  liability  before  the  calamity  could  reach  him. 
From  this  year  his  transactions  pervaded  the  entire  globe.  The  Old  and  the  New  World 
alike  bore  witness  to  his  skill ;  and  with  the  profits  of  a  single  loan  he  purchased  an  es¬ 
tate  which  cost  £l 50,000.  Minor  capitalists,  like  parasitical  plants,  clung  to  him,  and 
were  always  ready  to  advance  their  money  in  speculations  at  his  bidding.  Nothing 
seemed  too  gigantic  for  his  grasp ;  nothing  too  minute  for  his  notice.  His  mind  was  as 
capable  of  /calculating  a  loan  for  millions  as  of  calculating  the  lowest  possible  amount  on 
which  a  clerk  could  exist.  Like  too  many  great  merchants,  whose  profits  were  counted  by 
thousands,  he  paid  his  assistants  the  smallest  amount  for  which  he  coidd procure  them.  He  be¬ 
came  the  liigh-priest  of  the  temple  of  Janus,  and  the  coupons  raised  by  the  capitalist  for 
a  despotic  state  were  more  than  a  match  for  the  cannon  of  the  revolutionist. 

“From  most  of  the  speculations  of  1824  and  1825,  Mr.  Rothschild  kept  wisely  aloof. 
The  Alliance  Life  and  Fire  Assurance  Company,  which  owes  its  origin  to  this  period,  was, 
however,  produced  under  his  auspices,  and  its  great  success  is  a  proof  of  his  forethought. 
None  of  the  loans  with  which  he  was  connected  were  ever  repudiated;  and  when  the 
crash  of  that  sad  period  came,  the  great  Hebrew  looked  coldly  and  calmly  on,  and  con¬ 
gratulated  himself  on  his  caution.  At  his  counting-house,  a  fair  price  might  be  procured 
for  any  amount  of  stock,  which,  at  a  critical  time,  would  have  depressed  the  public  market; 
and  it  was  no  uncommon  circumstance  for  brokers  to  apply  at  the  office  of  Mr.  Rothschiid, 
instead  of  going  in  the  Stock  Exchange.  He  has,  however,  been  occasionally  surpassed 
in  cunning;  and  on  one  occasion  a  great  banker  lent  Rothschild  a  million  and  a  half  on 
the  security  of  consols,  the  price  of  which  was  then  84.  The  terms  on  which  the  money 
was  lent  were  simple.  If  the  price  reached  74,  the  banker  might  claim  the  stock  at  70; 
but  Rothschild  felt  satisfied  that,  with  so  large  a  sum  out  of  the  market,  the  bargain  was 
tolerably  safe.  The  banker,  however,  as  much  a  Jew  as  Rothschild,  had  a  plan  of  his 
own.  He  immediately  began  selling  the  consols  received  from  the  latter,  together  with  a 
similar  amount  in  his  own  possession.  The  funds  dropped;  the  Stock  Exchange  grew 
alarmed;  other  circumstances  tended  to  depress  it;  the  fatal  price  of  74  was  reached; 
and  the  Christian  banker  had  the  satisfaction  of  outwitting  the  Hebrew  loanmonger. 
But,  if  sometimes  outwitted  himself,  there  is  little  doubt  he  made  others  pay  for  it; 
and,  on  one  occasion,  it  is  reported  that  his  finesse  proved  too  great  for  the  authorities  of 
the  Bank  of  England.  Mr.  Rothschild  was  in  want  of  bullion,  and  went  to  the  governor 
to  procure  on  loan  a  portion  of  the  superfluous  store.  His  wishes  were  met ;  the  terms 
were  agreed  on ;  the  period  was  named  for  its  return ;  and  the  affair  finished  for  the 
time.  The  gold  was  used  by  the  financier;  his  end  was  answered,  and  the  day  arrived 
on  which  he  was  to  return  the  borrowed  metal.  Punctual  to  the  time  appointed,  Mr. 
Rothschild  entered ;  and  those  who  remember  his  personal  appearance  may  imagine  the 


34 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


the  planter  much,  goes  to  the  payment  of  taxes  for  the  maintenance  of  those 
who  are  reduced  by  the  system  to  a  state  of  pauperism— much  to  the  govern¬ 
ment,  which  taxes  every  note,  bill  or  bond  —  servants,  horses,  carriages, 
&c.  &c.  Vast  sums  go  to  the  maintenance  of  lawyers  and  conveyancers,  to 
that  of  stock-gamblers  and  speculators,  and  much  is  lost  by  failures  of  every 
kind,  the  natural  results  of  a  gambling  trade.  The  result  is,  that  the 
cotton  which  yields  the  planter,  on  his  plantation,  but  five  cents  per 
pound,  and  is  sold  in  Liverpool  at  four-pence  halfpenny  per  pound, 
is  sold  by  the  mill  owner  at  a  shilling*  and  yet  the  reward  of  the  la¬ 
bour  employed  in  converting  it  into  cloth  is  not  two-pence,  and  probably 
little  more  than  a  penny  per  pound.  It  is  so  obviously  the  interest  of  mill 
owners  to  obtain  large  allowances  for  the  use  of  machinery,  that  it  cannot  be 
doubted  they  will  continue  to  pursue  this  course,  and  to  make  every  effort 
that  maybe  necessary  to  continue  to  themselves  the  control  of  the  cotton 
market.  That  control  depends  upon  continuing  the  monopoly  of  machinery ; 
and  the  moment  that  monopoly  shall  be  broken  up,  and  machinery  shall 
become  so  abundant  elsewhere  as  to  relieve  the  planter  from  the  necessity 
for  seeking  a  market,  the  power  of  taxation  will  pass  away,  cloth  will  be 
cheap,  consumption  will  be  trebled,  and  the  producer  will  grow  rich. 

We  may  now,  for  a  moment,  look  to  the  manner  in  which  the  sugar-planter 
is  taxed.  The  quantity  of  sugar  entered  for  hoijie  consumption  in  1847  was 
5,800,000  cwt.,  and  the  average  price  was  about  25s.  per  cwt.,  of  which 
at  least  one-fourth,  and  very  probably  one-third,  went  to  pay  the  cost  of  trans¬ 
portation  in  and  from  India,  the  Isle  of  France,  Brazil,  Cuba,  Jamaica,  &c., 

storage,  commission,  &c.  , 

Allowing  it  to  have  been  three-tenths,  the  planter  had  at  his  command 
about  g  ,,  K.  ,  -£5,000,000 

The  price  of  iron  was  429,  12s.  and  if  we  now  add  to  this  lor 
the  transportation  to  Cuba,  Brazil,  India,  &c.,  and  from  the 
port  to  the  plantation,  only  £1,  8s.  we  have  4211  as  the  cost 
of  a  ton,  at  which  rate  450,000  tons  would  amount  to  £4,950,000 

and  if  the  account  were  more  accurately  made  up,  it  would  not  probably 


amount  to  400,000  tons.  . 

To  add  that  quantity  in  a  single  year  to  the  product  of  iron  in  this  country, 
would  not  require  the  slightest  exertion,  and  yet  we  see  here  that  in  return 
for  it,  small  as  it  was,  England  obtained,  in  1847,  more  than  one-fourth  of 
the  products  of  the  labour  of  all  the  sugar-producing  countries  of  the  globe  ! 
A  very  slight  examination  of  this  statement  will  show  in  what  manner  the 
people  of  the  world  are  taxed  for  the  maintenance  of  iron-manufacturers, 
railroad  speculators,  and  the  host  of  middle-men,  with  whom  England  so 
much  abounds.  Her  producers  are  few,  and  her  consumers  are  many,  and 
the  materials  for  their  consumption  are  obtained  by  means  of  a  system  of 
taxation  the  most  extraordinary  that  the  world  has  yet  seen. 

The  object  of  protection  is  not  only  to  rescue  ourselves  from  the  necessity 
of  contributing  to  the  maintenance  of  such  a  system,  but  also  to  facilitate 
the  process  of  emigration  from  lands  so  taxed,  adding  to  the  value  of  the 
people  who  remain,  by  diminishing  the  supply  of  men  in  market,  and  com- 


cunning  twinkle  of  his  small,  quick  eye,  as,  ushered  into  the  presence  of  the  governor,  he 
handed  the  borrowed  amount  in  bank  notes.  He  was  reminded  of  his  agreement,  and 
the  necessity  of  bullion  was  urged.  His  reply  was  worthy  ol  a  commercial  Talleyrand. 
‘Very  well,  gentlemen.  Give  me  the  notes.  I  dare  say  your  cashier  will  honour  them 
with  gold  from  your  vaults,  and  then  I  can  return  you  bullion.  To  such  a  speech,  the 

only  worthy  reply  was  a  scornful  silence.”  * 

*  The  piece  which  sold  at  6s.  Id.  required  to  produce  it  about  6J  pounds  of  cotton. 

The  price  was  thus  almost  exactly  a  shilling  per  pound. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


35 


pelling  those  who  desire  to  purchase  labour  to  give  for  it  the  proper  equiva¬ 
lent  in  food  and  raiment,  which  now  they  do  not.  With  every  step  in  that 
direction,  their  power  to  produce  iron  and  to  consume  food  and  clothing 
must  grow,  and  the  power  to  maintain  commerce  must  increase. 

We  have  seen  that  iron  was  much  more  costly  in  1845-6  than  from 
1827  to  ’34.  In  opposition  to  this  unquestionable  fact,  the  late  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  asserted  that,  “experience  proves  that  from  improved  ma¬ 
chinery,  new  inventions  and  reduced  cost  of  production,  the  foreign  articles 
are  constantly  diminishing  in  price.”*  In  opposition  to  this  we  have  the 
fact  that  not  only  was  iron  higher  but  cotton  was  lower.  The  man 
who  gave  two  pounds  of  cotton  in  1845-6  for  less  iron  than  he  could 
have  had  in  1833-4  for  one,  found  that  the  price  of  iron  was  increasing 
and  not  diminishing,  and  that  it  was  far  more  difficult  than  in  the  former 
period  to  obtain  what  he  needed  for  the  construction  of  machinery.  His 
wages  in  iron  were  thus  reduced,  and  his  power  to  accumulate  capital  was 
reduced ;  whereas,  if  he  had  made  his  exchanges  on  the  spot  with  the  pro¬ 
ducer  of  iron,  both  would  have  grown.  Nevertheless  we  are  told  by  the  same 
authority  that  the  necessary  consequence  of  the  protective  system  is,  that 
“  wages  throughout  the  country  became  lower  than  before,  because  the 
aggregate  profits  of  the  capital  of  the  nation  engaged  in  all  its  industry  is 
diminished.”!  It  is  deemed  most  profitable  to  trade  with  those  nations 
wffiose  labour  is  low,  and  the  lower  it  is  “the  greater  is  our  gain  in  the  ex¬ 
change.”  The  labour  of  Great  Britain  is  lower  than  it  was  fifteen  years 
since,  because  it  is  less  productive,  and  the  less  her  people  produce,  the  less 
they  have  to  give  us  in  exchange  for  our  products ;  the  consequence  of  which 
is,  that  we  give  more  cotton  for  less  iron.  If  all  the  people  of  England  were 
to  work,  they  would  produce  far  more  cloth  and  iron;  wages  would  then 
rise,  and  the  equivalent  of  a  bale  of  cotton  in  iron  would  be  doubled.  The 
more  productively  the  people  of  the  world  are  employed,  the  greater  will  be 
the  value  of  their  labour,  and  the  larger  will  be  the  quantity  of  good  things 
that  we  shall  obtain  in  exchange  for  our  labour.  The  larger  their  armies, 
the  more  destructive  their  wars,  the  more  numerous  their  revolutions,  the 
more  their  money-spending  classes,  paupers  and  noblemen,  abound,  the  smaller 
will  be  the  value  of  labour  abroad,  the  smaller  will  be  their  power  to  main¬ 
tain  commerce,  and  the  smaller  will  be  the  advantage  to  those  who  trade 
with  them;  for  the  less  silk  or  iron  they  produce,  the  more  food  or  cotton 
must  be  given  them  as  the  equivalent  of  similar  quantities. 

The  document  to  which  I  have  above  referred  belongs  to  the  school  *of 
discords  ;  that  which  teaches  to  buy  in  the  cheapest  and  sell  in  the  dearest 
market,  and  sees  great  advantage  to  be  gained  by  reducing  the  cotton  of 
the  poor  Hindoo  to  a  penny  a  pound,  careless  of  the  fact  that  famine  and 
pestilence  follow  in  the  train  of  such  a  system.  The  policy  that  produces 
a  yiecessity  for  depending  on  trade  with  people  who  are  poorer  than  our¬ 
selves  tends  to  reduce  the  wages  of  our  labour  to  a  level  with  theirs,  and  to 
diminish  commerce.  That  which  should  give  us  power  to  trade  with  na¬ 
tions  who  might  be  richer  than  ourselves  would  tend  to  raise  our  wages  to 
a  level  with  theirs.  By  bringing  the  Irishman  here,  and  enabling  him  to 
make  his  exchanges  with  us,  we  raise  him  to  our  level  as  a  producer.  By 
exporting  our  people  to  Ireland,  and  compelling  them  to  make  their  exchanges 
there,  we  should  sink  their  wages  to  a  level  with  those  of  that  country. 
The  policy  that  brings  people  here  and  raises  them  in  the  scale  of  civiliza¬ 
tion,  is  that  which  promotes  commerce.  That  which  causes  them  to  return 
home,  and  thus  arrests  the  tide  of  immigration,  preventing  advance  in 
civilization,  is  the  one  which  diminishes  commerce. 


*  Report,  December,  1848. 


!  Ibid. 


36 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


CHAPTER  SEVENTH. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  THE  QUANTITY  AND  QUALITY  OF  THE  MACHINERY 

OF  PRODUCTION. 

The  obiect  sought  to  be  accomplished  is  the  improvement  of  the  condition 
of  man.  The  mode  by  which  it  is  to  be  accomplished  is  that  of  increasing 
his  productive  power.  The  more  food  a  man  can  raise,  the  more  and  better 
food  may  he  consume,  and  the  larger  will  be  the  surplus  that  can  be  appro¬ 
priated  to  the  purchase  of  clothing,  to  the  education  of  his  family,  to  the  en¬ 
largement  of  his  house,  or  to  the  improvement  of  his  machinery,  and  the 
greater  will  be  the  amount  of  leisure  that  can  be  appropriated  to  the  im¬ 
provement  of  his  modes  of  thought.  ,  , 

The  better  his  machinery,  and  the  more  readily  it  can  be  obtained,  the 
laro-er  will  be  his  production.  Machinery  consists  chiefly  of  iron,  and  the 
more  readily  that  can  be  obtained,  the  more  rapid  will  be  the  increase  of 
production  and  the  improvement  of  the  physical,  moral, .  intellectual  and 
political  capacities  of  man.  It  is  the  great  instrument  of  civilization. 

The  more  durable  his  work,  the  more  rapidly  will  his  capital  increase. 
Where  iron  is  abundant  it  is  substituted  for  wood  in  the  building  of  houses, 
which  are  thus  secured  from  fire,  and  in  the  construction  of  ships  and  roads,  by 
which  transportation  is  improved — and  with  each  such  step  his  powers  oi 
production  are  increased. 

That  he  may  obtain  iron  readily,  he  must  have  the  command  of  fuel,  ob¬ 
tainable  at  moderate  cost  of  labour — in  other  words,  cheaply— -for  things  are 
cheap  or  dear  not  in  proportion  to  their  money-price,  but  to  the  quantity  ol 
labour  required  for  obtaining  them.  The  money-price  of  gram,  in  Irelan  , 
is  less  than  in  England,  yet  the  cost  in  labour  is  so  great  that  the  poor  cul¬ 
tivator  eats  still  poorer  potatoes.  The  money-price  of  coal  is  less  than  it 
was  two  years  since,  yet  the  consumption  has  diminished,  because  the 
labour-price  has  risen.  The  money-price  of  cotton  in  those  parts  of  India 
in  which  it  is  raised,  is  about  two  cents  per  pound,  yet  the  man  who  raises 
it  covers  his  loins  with  a  rag,  dispensing  with  clothing  for  the  rest  ol  his 
body,  because  the  labour-price  of  cloth  is  great.  Where  production  is 
small,  the  labour-price  of  commodities  is  high,  and  consumption  is  very 
small ;  and  vice  versa ,  where  production  is  large,  the  labour-price  ol^com- 

rnodities  is  low,  and  consumption  is  great.  , 

Large  production  requires  good  and  cheap  machinery,  and  that  we  may 
obtain  such  machinery,  we  must  have  good  and  cheap  fuel.  Abundance 
of  fuel  and  iron  are  the  foundation  upon  which  civilization  must  rest,  and 
whatever  the  course  of  policy  that  tends  most  to  facilitate  their  acquisition, 
that  is  the  one  which  must  tend  most  rapidly  to  augment  the  productive  power 
of  man,  and  to  increase  his  power  and  his  capacity  for  improvement. 

Iron  ore  and  fuel  exist  throughout  this  country  in  such  profusion  as  is 
elsewhere  unknown.  Nowhere  in  the  world  can  they  be  so  readily  ob¬ 
tained — nowhere  so  easily  brought  into  combination  with  each  other.  1  e 
anthracite  of  Pennsylvania  is  the  best  fuel  in  the  world,  and  it  can  be  mine 
•  as  cheaply  as  any  other.  It  is  interstratified  with  iron  ore  in  great  abun¬ 
dance.  Limestone  underlies  the  whole  of  the  great  Schuylkill  region,  and 
it  may  be  obtained  with  as  little  labour  as  anywhere  in  the  world.  1  fie 
ores  and  fuel  of  Ohio  and  the  West  are  thus  described 

The  beds  of  ore  are  easy  of  access,  being  and  associated  with  materials  necessary  for  its  re¬ 
duction,  cannot  fail  to  be  of  immense  sources  of  wealth.  Most  of  the  working-beds  of 
ore  are  above  the  first  workable  bed  of  coal.  The  amount  of  workable  ore  m  Muskingum 
county  is  estimated  at  103,600,000  cubic  yards,  which,  when  melted,  will  yield  about 


/ 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS.  37 


half  that  number  of  tons,  in  pigs.  We  need  not  now  speak  of  localities.  Mr.  Briggs 
closes  his  report  on  iron  ore  as  follows  : — “  A  very  low  calculation  of  the  amount  of  good 
iron  ore  in  the  region  which  has  this  season  been  explored,  is  equal  to  a  solid,  unbroken 
stratum,  sixty  miles  in  length,  sixty  miles  in  width,  and  three  feet  in  thickness.  A  square 
mile  of  this  layer,  being  equivalent  in  round  numbers  to  three  millions  cubic  yards,  when 
melted,  will  yield  as  many  tons  of  pig  iron.  This  number,  multiplied  by  the  number  of 
square  miles  in  the  stratum,  will  give  1,080,000,000  tons  ;  which,  from  three  counties 
alone,  will  yield  annually,  for  2700  years,  400,000  tons  of  iron — more  than  equal  to  the 
greatest  amount  made  in  England  previous  to  the  year  1829.’' — Ohio  Paper. 

The  country  bordering  on  Carp  River  (Lake  Superior)  is,  perhaps,  the  richest  on  the 
globe  for  its  iron  ore.  The  “  Jackson  Iron  Company,”  whose  location  we  had  the 
pleasure  of  visiting,  is  situated  some  twelve  miles  from  the  Lake  Shore,  and  about  three 
miles  from  the  iron  mountains.  One  of  these  mountains  belongs  to  the  above-named 
company,  and  the  other  to  the  “  Cleveland  Iron  Company.”  These  two  mountains,  as  Mm 
were  informed,  are  by  far  the  richest  and  most  valuable  of  any  iron  deposit  that  have 
been  discovered — though  it  is  said  that  more  or  less  iron  ore  is  found  spread  over  some 
seventeen  or  eighteen  townships  between  Lake  Superior  and  Green  Bay.  This  ore  con¬ 
tains  from  75  to  90  per  cent,  of  pure  iron,  and  metal  made  from  it  by  the  Jackson  Com¬ 
pany  has  been  submitted  to  the  severest  tests,  and  proves  to  be  of  the  very  best  quality 
of  iron  that  is  made  in  any  part  of  the  world,  having  been  drawn  doMrn  to  the  size  of 
No.  36  wire.  The  Jackson  Iron  Company  (under  the  superintendence  of  P.  M.  Everett, 
Esq.,  who  we  now  understand  leaves,  and  is  succeeded  by  Czar  Jones,  Esq.,  of  Jackson) 
has  been  making  iron  for  some  twelve  or  eighteen  months. — Lake  Superior  News. 

Such  being  the  case,  we  might  suppose  that  the  consumption  of  fuel  and 
iron  would  be  great,  but  such  has  not  been  the  case. 

In  1810,  the  domestic  manufacture  amounted  to  only  50,000  tons.  In 
1828,  it  had  reached  100,000.  In  1818,  ’19,  ’20,  it  may  perhaps  have 
*  reached  70,000,  but  even  that  is  very  doubtful.  The  total  importation  of  bar 
and  pig  iron  in  those  years  was  40,000  tons,  or  13,333  per  annum.  The 
import  of  manufactured  articles  of  iron  may  have  been  half  as  much,  and 
this  would  give  a  consumption  of  90,000  tons,  or  200,000,000  of  pounds  for 
a  population  of  9,400,000  persons,  beinga  little  over  20  pounds  per  head.  The 
average  consumption  of  the  Union  for  all  purposes,  for  house-building  and 
ship-building,  for  agricultural  implements,  and  for  machinery  of  every  de¬ 
scription,  was  equal,  therefore,  to  little  more  than  twice  the  weight  of 
an  axe  per  head  per  annum,  and  yet  there  existed,  as  there  now  exists,  a 
capacity  to  produce  iron  at  less  cost  of  labour  than  anywhere  in  the  world. 
If  we  desire  now  to  understand  the  cause  of  this,  it  may  be  found  in  the  fact 
that  up  to  the  Revolution,  the  manufacture  of  iron,  even  that  of  horse-shoe 
nails,  was  prohibited,  and  there  existed  no  inducement  to  erect  works  for  the 
smelting  of  the  ore,  when  the  pig  could  not  be  used.  The  consequence  was, 
that  it  did  not  grow  with  its  natural  growth,  while  that  of  England  was 
forced  forward,  and  when  the  day  of  nominal  independence  arrived,  that  of 
real  independence  was  still  far  distant.  Under  the  various  tariffs  from  1789 
to  1812,  the  duties  were  ad-valorem,  commencing  with  7|  per  cent,  and 
gradually  rising  until  they  had  attained,  before  the  war  of  1812,  17£  per 
cent.  The  production  of  iron  had  made  no  progress,  and  the  whole  supply 
had  to  be  sought  abroad,  the  consequence  of  which  was  that  it  was  scarce 
and  dear.  Embargo,  non-intercourse,  and  war  raised  the  price  so  high  that 
furnaces  were  built  in  considerable  numbers  ;  but  with  the  peace,  the  duties 
on  manufactured  iron  were  reduced  to  20  per  cent.  The  demand  for  pig 
iron  was  thus  diminished,  and  the  price  in  Pittsburgh,  which  had  been  $60, 
fell  in  1820  and  1821  to  $20,  the  consequence  of  which  was  the  ruin  of 
nearly  all  engaged  in  its  production.  This,  however,  was  not  a  consequence 
of  reduction  of  duty.  At  that  very  time  the  duty  on  pigs  was  $10,  and  on 
bars  $30  per  ton,  and  thus  the  selling  price  at  that  place  was  far  less  than 
the  freight  and  duty  on  imported  iron.  Iron  was  nominally  cheap,  but 


38 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


really  dear:  so  dear  that  consumption  was  destroyed.  Labour  was  at  $6 
per  month,  and  wheat  sold  for  25  cents  a  bushel,  and  thus  was  produced  so 
total  an  inability  to  consume  this  most  necessary  of  all  commodities,  that  al¬ 
though  the  furnaces  were  closed,  the  whole  import  of  pig  and  roiled  iron  in 
1821,  was  but  4000  tons,  or  one  ton  to  every  2,500  persons.  It  may  be 
doubted  if  the  consumption  of  that  year  exceeded  six  pounds  per  head. 
We  see  thus  that  the  power  to  import  disappeared  with  the  power  to  pro¬ 
duce,  as  has  already  been  shown  to  have  been  the  case  on  other  occasions. 

Who,  now,  were  the  losers  hy  the  greatly  increased  difficulty  of  obtaining 
this  great  instrument  of  civilization  ?  To  answer  this  question,  we  must 
first  inquire  who  are  the  great  consumers  of  iron?  The  farmers  and  planters 
constitute  three-fourths  of  the  population  of  the  nation,  and  if  the  loss  were 
equally  distributed,  that  portion  of  the  loss  would  fall  upon  them  ;  but  we 
shall  find  upon  inquiry  that  it  is  upen  them,  the  producers  of  all  we  con¬ 
sume,  that  the  whole  of  it  must  fall. 

The  farmer  needs  iron  for  his  spades  and  ploughs,  his  shovels  and  his 
dung-forks,  his  trace-chains  and  horse-shoes,  and  his  wagon-wheels;  for  his 
house,  his  barn,  and  his  stable.  He  needs  them,  too,  for  his  timber.  If 
iron  be  abundant,  saws  are  readily  obtained,  and  the  saw-miller  takes  his 
place  by  his  side,  and  he  has  his  timber  converted  into  plank  at  the  cost  of  less 
labour  than  was  before  required  to  haul  the  logs  to  the  distant  saw-mill.  He 
obtains  the  use  of  mill-saws  cheap.  If  iron  be  abundant,  the  grist-mill 
comes  to  his  neighbourhood,  and  now  he  has  his  grain  converted  into  flour, 
giving  for  the  work  less  grain  than  was  before  consumed  by  the  horses  and 
men  employed  in  carrying  it  to  the  distant  mill.  If  iron  be  abundant, 
spades  and  picks  are  readily  obtained,  and  the  roads  are  mended,  and  he 
passes  more  readily  to  the  distant  market.  If  iron  increase  in  abundance, 
the  railroad  enables  him  to  pass  with  increased  facility,  himself,  his  turnips 
and  potatoes,  to  markets  from  which  before  he  was  entirely  shut  out  by  cost 
of  transportation,  except  as  regarded  articles  of  small  bulk  and  much  value- 
wheat  and  cotton.  If  iron  be  abundant,  the  woollen-mill  comes,  and  his 
wool  is  converted  on  the  spot  by  men  who  eat  on  the  ground  his  cabbages 
and  his  veal,  and  drink  his  milk,  and  perform  the  work  of  conversion  in  re¬ 
turn  for  services  and  things  that  would  have  been  lost  had  they  not  been  thus 
consumed.  At  each  step  he  gets  the  use  of  iron  cheaper— that  is,  at  less 
cost  of  labour.  If  iron  be  abundant,  the  cotton-mill  now  comes,  and  the 
iron  road  now  brings  the  cotton,  and  his  sons  and  his  daughters  obtain  the 
use  of  iron  spindles  and  iron  looms  by  which  they  are  enabled  to  clothe 
themselves  at  one-twentieth  of  the  cost  of  labour  that  had  been  necessary 
but  twenty  years  before.  Instead  of  a  yard  of  cotton  received  in  return  for 
two  bushels  of  corn,  onp  bushel  of  corn  pays  for  six  yards  of  cloth — and  now 
it  is  that  the  farmer  grows  rich. 

A  careful  examination  of  society  will  satisfy  the  inquirer  that  ail  the 
people  engaged  in  the  work  of  transportation,  conversion,  and  exchange, 
are  but  the  agents  of  the  producers,  and  live  out  of  the  commodities  they 
produce,  and  that  the  producers  grow  rich  or  remain  poor  precisely  as  they 
are  required  to  employ  less  or  more  persons  in  the  making  of  their  ex¬ 
changes.  The  farmer  who  is  compelled  to  resort  to  the  distant  mill  em¬ 
ploys  many  persons,  horses  and  wagons,  in  the  work  of  converting  his  grain 
into  flour,  and  his  land  is  of  small  value.  Bring  the  mill  close  to  him,  and 
a  single  horse  and  cart,  occasionally  employed,  will  do  the  work.  The 
farmer  who  employs  the  people  of  England  to  produce  his  iron,  is  obliged 
to  have  the  services  of  numerous  persons,  of  ships  and  wagons,  and  horses,  to 
aid  in  the  work.  Bring  the  furnace  to  his  side,  and  let  his  neighbour  get  out 
his  iron,  and  he  and  his  sons  do  much  of  the  work  themselves,  furnishing 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


39 


timber,  ore,  and  the  use  of  horses,  wagons,  &c.,  when  not  needed  on  the 
farm. 

The  man  of  Tennessee  sends  to  market  300  bushels  of  corn,  for  which 
he  receives  in  return  one  ton  of  iron,  the  money-cost  of  which  is  $60,  but 
the  labour-cost  of  which  is  the  cultivation  of  ten  acres  of  land.  If  he 
could  follow  his  corn,  he  would  find  that  the  men  who  get  out  his  iron 
receive  but  30  or  40  bushels,  and  that  the  remaining  260  or  270  are  swal¬ 
lowed  up  by  the  numerous  transporters  and  exchangers  that  stand  between 
himself  and  the  men  whom  he  thus  employs.  If,  now,  he  could  bring 
those  men  to  his  side,  giving  them  double  wages,  say  sixty  bushels  of  corn, 
he  would  be  a  gainer  to  the  extent  of  240  bushels.  While  he  has  to  give 
300  bushels,  his  iron  is  dear,  and  he  can  use  little.  When  he  obtains  it  for 
60  bushels  it  is  cheap,  and  he  uses  much.  His  production  increases,  and 
his  ability  to  use  iron  increases  with  it,  and  the  demand  for  workers  in  iron 
increases,  and  all  obtain  food  more  readily,  the  consequence  of  which  is  that 
they  have  more  to  spare  for  clothing,  and  for  other  of  the  comforts  or  the 
luxuries  of  life. 

Whenever  there  is  in  market  a  surplus  of  any  commodity,  the  whole 
quantity  tends  to  fall  to  the  level  of  the  lowest  price  required  to  enable  the 
holders  to  find  purchasers,  and  so  long  as  we  shall  continue  to  have  a  sur¬ 
plus  of  food  for  export,  the  price  of  the  whole  must  continue  to  be  regulated 
by  that  which  can  be  obtained  for  the  trivial  quantity  sent  to  Liverpool. 

Whenever  it  is  necessary  to  resort  to  distant  places  to  procure  a  part  of 
the  supply  of  any  commodity,-  the  price  of  the  whole  is  regulated  by  the 
cost  of  obtaining  this  last  small  portion.  In  1847,  we  produced  800,000 
tons  of  iron,  yet  the  demand  was  so  much  in  advance  of  the  supply  that  we 
were  obliged  to  import  a  small  quantity,  and  the  price  at  which  that  was 
obtained  fixed  the  price  of  the  whole.  The  farmer  is  thus  always  selling 
in  the  cheapest  and  buying  in  the  dearest  market.  The  labour  and  capital 
required  to  produce  a  ton  of  iron,  are  not  as  great  as  are  needed  for  the  pro¬ 
duction  of  forty  bushels  of  corn,  and  yet  he  gives  for  it  three  hundred,  be¬ 
cause  of  the  quantity  of  labour  wasted  in  transporting  the  one  to  the  man  who 
produces  the  other. 

The  prices  of  labour  and  iron  are  both  higher  than  in  Europe,  and  there¬ 
fore  we  import  both.  The  price  of  food  is  lower  than  in  Europe,  and  there¬ 
fore  we  export  it.  Whenever  the  import  of  labour  shall  be  such  as  to  do 
away  with  the  necessity  for  exporting  food,  as  food,  its  price  will  be  high, 
and  we  shall  cease  to  export  it.  Whenever  the  import  of  men  shall  be  such 
as  to  do  away  with  the  necessity  for  importing  iron,  the  price  will  be  low, 
and  we  shall  export  food  in  the  form  of  iron.  By  the  same  operation  the 
farmer  will  thus  be  enabled  to  obtain  high  prices  for  his  grain,  and  to  buy 
his  iron  cheap.  He  will  then  buy  in  the  cheapest  and  sell  in  the  dearest 
market,  and  the  value  of  his  labour  will  be  increased. 

We  have  seen  that  in  the  period  that  elapsed  between  1821  and  1829,  em¬ 
bracing  the  six  years  which  followed  the  passage  of  the  act  of  1824,  the  con¬ 
sumption  of  iron  rose  to  about  25  pounds  per  head.  In  the  three  following 
years,  under  the  tariff  of  1828,  it  rose  to  47.  By  the  Compromise  Act,  the 
duty  on  railroad  iron  was  abolished,  and  the  consequence  was,  that  the  power 
of  consumption  diminished,  remaining  at  an  average  of  but  46  pounds  for  the 
next  nine  years.  Under  the  strictly  revenue  clauses  of  the  tariff  it  fell 
to  38  pounds,  being  less  than  the  consumption  of  eleven  years  before.  By 
1846,  it  had  risen  to  94,  and  in  the  following  year  it  rose  to  98.  Who  were  the 
persons  that  benefited  by  this  change  ?  Let  us  see.  The  abundance  of  iron 
facilitated  the  opening  of  coal  mines  by  means  of  steam-engines  and  other 
machinery,  and  the  making  of  roads,  by  means  of  which  coal,  and  food, 


40 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


and  timber  could  be  taken  to  market,  and  thus  greatly  diminished  the  number 
of  persons  intermediate  between  the  producer  and  consumer ;  and  the  abund¬ 
ance  of  fuel  and  iron  facilitated  the  construction  of  steamboats,  diminish¬ 
ing  greatly  the  cost  of  transportation  to  and  from  market ;  and  facilitated 
the  construction  of  mills  and  furnaces,  at  which  the  farmers  and  planters  could 
make  their  own  exchanges  ;  while  the  increased  facility  of  obtaining  ploughs 
and  harrows,  spades  and  axes,  tended  to  increase  the  productiveness  of  labour, 
with  large  increase  in  the  quantities  to  be  exchanged,  and  in  this  manner 
the  whole  benefit  resulting  from  the  augmented  facility  of  obtaining  iron  went 
to  the  cultivators  of  the  land,  farmers  and  planters. 

But  why  should  protection  have  been  necessary  to  produce  this  result  ? 
To  the  general  reasons  already  given,  may  now  be  added,  those  which  refer 
particularly  to  iron.  In  a  table  now  before  me,*  the  English  prices  of  mer¬ 
chant-bar  iron  are  thus  given  : — 


£ 

s. 

£ 

s. 

s. 

£ 

s. 

£ 

s. 

£ 

s. 

1816— 

■11 

0 

@ 

8 

15 

1827— 

9 

10 

@ 

8 

15 

1837— 

10 

5  @ 

6 

15 

1817- 

-  8 

10 

@ 

13 

0 

1828— 

9 

0 

@ 

7 

15 

1838— 

9 

10  @ 

9 

15 

1818— 

-12 

0 

@ 

10 

0 

1829— 

7 

10 

@ 

6 

12 

1839— 

10 

5  @ 

9 

10 

1819 — 

-11 

10 

@ 

11 

0 

1830— 

6 

15 

@ 

6 

5 

1840— 

9 

0  @ 

8 

0 

1820— 

-10 

10 

@ 

9 

10 

1831— 

6 

5 

@ 

5 

17 

1841— 

-  7 

15  @ 

0 

0 

1821- 

-  9 

10 

@ 

8 

15 

1832— 

6 

5 

@ 

5 

10 

1842- 

6 

10  @ 

5 

5 

1822—  8 

10 

@ 

8 

0 

1833— 

6 

15 

@ 

7 

15 

1843- 

5 

0  @ 

4 

10 

1824- 

-13 

0 

@ 

8 

15 

1834— 

6 

10 

@ 

7 

12 

1844- 

-  6 

6  @ 

5 

0 

1825- 

-15 

0 

@ 

11 

10 

1835— 

8 

5 

@ 

6 

5 

1845- 

-  6 

10  @ 

9 

0 

1826- 

-11 

0 

@ 

9 

10 

1836— 

11 

10 

@ 

10 

5 

1846- 

-  9 

0 

We  have  here  £4  10— $21  60,  and  £15=$72,  and  every  price  between. 
Why  should  these  enormous  variations  take  place  ?  It  costs  no  more  labour 
to  make  iron  at  one  time  than  at  another.  The  man  who  mined  a  ton  of  ore 
or  coal  in  1832,  when  the  price  was  £5  10,  could  mine  more  than  a  ton  in 
1846,  because  machinery  had  been  greatly  improved,  and  yet  the  price  wras 
then  £9. 

The  season  may  be  adverse  for  the  growth  of  grain  or  cotton,  and  the  rot 
may  destroy  the  potato  crop,  thus  diminishing  the  quantity  to  be  supplied 
with  great  increase  of  price,  and  yet  neither  food  nor  cotton  is  liable  to  the 
enormous  and  sudden  changes  that  we  see  in  regard  to  iron,  which  ought  to 
be  perfectly  steady.  These  changes  are  due  to  the  unsound  character  of  the 
system,  and  the  perpetual  changes  that  result  therefrom.  The  consequence 
of  them  is,  the  constant  recurrence  of  ruin  to  all,  in  other  countries  engaged 
in  the  manufacture  of  iron.  In  1816  it  was  high,  and  furnaces  were  built.  In 
1821,  it  was  low,  and  iron-masters  were  everywhere  ruined.  In  1825  it 
was  high,  and  furnaces  were  again  put  in  blast.  In  1831,  furnace-masters 
were  again  ruined.  In  1836  it  was  high,  and  in  1842,  it  was  low,  and  on 
both  occasions  the  same  operations  w'ere  repeated.  So  again  in  1846,  furnaces 
were  built,  and  now,  in  1849,  they  are  being  closed. 

The  consequence  of  this  is  that  the  iron  manufacture  throughout  the 
country  is  in  a  barbarous  condition.  Small  furnaces  abound,  at  which  much 
labour  is  given  to  producing  little  iron.  At  each  forced  intermission  of  the 
exertions  of  England  to  maintain  the  monopoly  of  the  production  of  this  im¬ 
portant  commodity,  we  can  see  it  making  its  way  gradually  to  the  land 
where  alone  it  can  be  produced  at  small  cost  of  labour — that  land  where  ore, 
coal,  and  limestone  are  interstratified  with  each  other,  and  at  which  it  would 
long  since  have  arrived  but  for  our  frequent  changes  of  policy. 


*  Merchants’  Magazine,  Vol.  XX.  p.  337. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


41 


Very  little  examination  is  necessary  to  satisfy  the  inquirer  that  it  has  been 
precisely  when  iron  has  been  lowest  in  England,  in  1822  and  1843,  that 
our  consumption  was  least ;  and  it  is  now  diminishing  rapidly,  as  our  furnaces 
are  being  closed  and  their  owners  ruined.  The  power  to  consume  declines 
daily.  With  another  year  or  two  the  price  abroad  will  be  high,  but  time 
will  then  be  required  to  get  the  old  furnaces  into  operation,  and  still 
longer  to  build  new  ones;  for  iron-making  is  like  buying  lottery  tickets, 
and  the  blanks  are  more  numerous  than  the  prizes.  That  time  arrived, 
pig  iron  may  be  again  $40  and  bars  $80  per  ton. 

So  long  as  a  nation  is  dependent  on  England  for  any  portion  of  its  supply, 
so  long  must  prices  continue  to  be  thus  variable,  and  so  long  must  the  con¬ 
sumption  of  this  important  article,  and  the  facilities  for  producing  it,  be 
small,  and  all  the  deficiency  falls  on  the  producer  of  food,  or  wool,  or  cotton ;  for 
it  is  he  that  pays  the  cost  of  transportation,  conversion  and  exchange.  The 
consumption  of  the  present  year  will  not,  probably,  exceed  700,000  tons,  for 
the  make  at  home  is  greatly  diminished,  and  the  stock  on  hand  has  increased 
to  an  extent  nearly  approaching  that  of  the  import  from  abroad.  Next  year, 
there  is  strong  reason  for  believing  that  it  will  be  still  farther  diminished, 
whereas,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  that  year,  had  the  system  of  1842  remained 
unchanged,  would  have  seen  the  domestic  product  attain  1,300,000  tons,  or 
3,000,000,000  of  pounds,  being  125  pounds  per  head ;  the  increase  for  1846 
having  been  almost  equal  to  the  whole  consumption,  per  head,  in  1842-3. 
Thenceforth,  the  price  would  have  been  regulated  by  the  cost  of  production 
here,  and  not  by  the  fluctuations  of  policy  abroad  ;  and  thenceforth  the  prices 
would  have  been  daily  diminishing,  as  the  machinery  of  production  improved. 
The  object  of  the  colonial  system  is  that  of  increasing  the  number  of  trans¬ 
porters,  converters  and  exchangers,  who  are  to  be  supported  out  of  the 
labours  of  the  farmers  and  planters.  The  object  of  the  protective  system  is 
to  diminish  the  number;  and  the  question  now  to  be  settled  is,  whether 
the  labourers,  the  men  who  produce  all  that  we  consume,  or  the  exchangers 
shall  be  masters.  Were  the  latter  to  succeed,  we  should  have  perfect 
freedom  of  trade,  so  far  as  freedom  consists  in  being  compelled  to  forego 
the  association  of  men  with  their  fellow-men  for  the  improvement  of 
their  condition,  and  the  result  would  be  the  stoppage  of  every  furnace 
in  the  Union;  when  all  those  engaged  in  mining  coal  and  ore  would  be 
compelled  to  resort  to  the  raising  of  food,  which  would  be  lower,  while 
iron  would  be  higher  and  greatly  higher.  Its  cost  in  labour  would  be  so  far 
increased  that  consumption  would  fall  to  the  point  at  which  it  stood  in  1821. 
Perfect  protection  would  soon  quadruple  our  production,  and  vast  num¬ 
bers  of  persons  would  mine  iron  and  coal  instead  of  raising  food,  which 
would  be  higher.  The  labour-cost  of  iron  would  be  diminished,  and  the 
consumption  would  be  increased;  and  it  is  by  aid  of  iron  that  production  is  to 
be  increased,  exchanges  facilitated,  conversion  improved,  land  increased  in 
value,  and  farmers  and  planters  made  rich. 


From  1829  to  1832,  the  domestic  production  increased  about  fifty  per  cent. 
During  the  whole  of  that  period,  the  Union  was  agitated  by  threats  of 
nullification  and  disunion,  and  there  existed  no  motive  for  investing  in  fur¬ 
naces  or  rolling-mills  the  large  amounts  required  for  the  cheap  production  of 
this  important  commodity.  From  1842  to  1847,  the  production  trebled,  and 
perhaps  quadrupled.  During  the  intermediate  period  it  was  almost  stationary. 

I  propose  to  inquire  what  would  have  been  the  result,  had  the  production  gone 
on  to  increase  at  the  rate  of  only  15  per  cent,  per  annum,  and  then  to  examine 
what  would  have  been  the  effect  on  the  working  men,  the  planters  and 


42 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


farmers  of  the  Union,  with  a  view  to  ascertain  from  the  experience  of  the 
past  what  is  probably  the  true  course  of  policy  for  the  future. 

Starting  with  200,000  tons  in  1832,  and  increasing  the  product  15  per 
cent,  the  succeeding  years  would  have  been  as  follows : — 


1000  tons.  Years.  1000  tons. 


Years,  1000  tons.  Years. 


532  1845  .  .  1230 
612  1846  .  .  1415 
704  1847  .  .  1630 
810  1848  .  .  1875 
930  1849  .  .  2150 
1070  1850  2472 


1833  .  .  230  1839  . 

1834  .  .  265  1840  . 

1835  .  .  305  1841  . 

1836  .  .  350  1842  . 

1837  .  .  402  1843  . 

1838  .  .  462  1844  . 


It  will  be  seen  that  the  highest  increase  of  any  year  is  scarcely  more  than 
that  which  actually  took  place  in  years  between  1843  and  1847,  when  every 
thing  had  to  be  recommenced,  after  a  state  of  almost  utter  ruin.  What  now 
would  have  been  the  amount  of  investment  required  for  the  production  of  this 
quantity  of  pig-metal  ?  A  furnace  capable  of  producing  5000  tons  per  week  may 
cost  $30,000.  We  can  now  produce  800,000  tons.  To  have  made  it  2,000,000 
would  have  required  the  building  of  240  furnaces  more  than  we  have  built, 
and  their  construction  would  have  required  $8,000,000,  being  far  less 
than  the  amount  that  has  in  that  period  been  spent  in  building  packet  ships 
to  run  between  New  York,  London,  and  Liverpool, — leaving  out  of  view 
all  other  expenditure  upon  shipping,  whether  for  building  or  sailing 
them.  The  ships  have  disappeared,  or  will  disappear,  leaving  nothing  be¬ 
hind.  The  furnaces  would  be  still  in  existence.  At  one  establishment  in 
Pennsylvania  there  are  six  furnaces  capable  of  producing  800  tons  of  metal 
per  week,  or  41,600  tons  per  annum.  The  cost  of  these  may  have  been 
$200,000.  To  build  ships  capable  of  transporting  that  quantity  would  re¬ 
quire  an  investment  of  at  least  $750,000.  At  the  end  of  a  few  years,  the 
whole  of  that  capital  would  be  sunk,  while  the  furnaces  might  last  almost 
for  centuries.  The  tendency  of  the  colonial  system  is  thus  to  compel  the 
employment  of  capital  in  temporary  machinery,  and  the  object  of  protection 
is  to  enable  the  owner  of  it  to  invest  it  in  that  which  is  permanent. 

It  will  be  asked,  what  should  wre  have  done  with  all  this  iron?  In 
answer,  I  say,  that  every  man  is  a  consumer  to  the  full  extent  of  his  pro¬ 
duction.  The  man  who  made  the  iron  would  have  required  food,  fuel  and 
clothing.  The  man  who  mined  the  fuel  would  have  required  iron,  food 
and  clothing.  The  man  who  raised  the  food  would  have  required  iron,  fuel 
and  clothing.  The  man  who  made  the  clothing  would  have  required 
iron,  food  and  fuel.  The  man  who  raised  the  wool  and  the  cotton  wmuld 
have  required  food,  fuel,  iron,  and  clothing.  Production  would  have  largely 
increased,  and  there  would  have  been  a  large  increase  in  the  power  of  con¬ 
suming  all  the  commodities  necessary  for  the  convenience  and  comfort  of 
man.  In  other  words,  there  would  have  been  a  great  increase  in  the  pro¬ 
fits  of  capital  and  the  wages  of  labour. 

Had  production  gone  on  at  the  rate  I  have  indicated,  we  should  have 
in  the  period  from  1834  to  the  present  time  15,000,000  of  tons,  whereas  we 
have  had  but  5,000,000.  These  10,000,000  would  have  filled  the  country 
with  machinery,  enabling  the  farmers  and  planters  to  have  the  consumers 
by  their  sides,  and  in  addition  would  have  given  them  roads  by  which  to  go 
to  market  at  half  the  present  cost.  Their  necessity  for  going  to  distant 
markets  would  have  diminished,  while  their  power  so  to  do  would  have  in¬ 
creased,  and  with  every  step  in  this  progress  they  would  have  become 

enriched.  .  . 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  said  that  this  demand  for  labour  would  have  dimin- 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


43 


ished  the  power  to  produce  food  and  cotton.  On  the  contrary,  it  would 
have  increased  it.  Two-thirds  of  the  labour  actually  employed  in  the 
making  of  this  iron  and  its  conversion  into  the  various  forms  to  fit  it  for  use, 
would  have  been  saved  labour — labour  that  has  been  wasted.  Further,  the 
farmer  and  planter  would  have  exchanged  their  food  and  cotton  on  the  spot 
for  iron,  and  here  would  have  been  a  further  and  vast  saving  of  labour. 
The  increased  facility  of  obtaining  spades  and  hoes,  ploughs  and  harrows, 
horse-shoes,  carts  and  wagons,  would  have  rendered  the  labour  on  the  farm 
or  plantation  more  productive.  The  rapid  growth  of  railroads  would  have 
prevented  the  necessity  for  going  to  market  with  produce,  and  facilitated 
the  transport  of  manure,  and  marl,  and  lime,  and  thus  the  power  to  apply 
labour  steadily  and  advantageously  would  have  largely  increased.  The 
neighbouring  cotton-mill  or  woollens-mill  would  have  furnished  clothing  for 
food  and  labour,  and  thus  the  necessity  for  looking  to  distant  markets  would 
have  been  diminished,  while  the  power  to  resort  to  them  would  have  largely 
increased.  The  increased  demand  for  labour  and  its  increased  reward, 
would  have  tended  largely  to  augment  immigration,  and  each  new  arrival 
would  have  been  a  mouth  to  be  fed  and  a  back  to  be  clothed,  to  the  advan¬ 
tage  of  both  farmer  and  planter.  Farms  and  plantations  would  have  been 
divided,  and  more  food  and  cotton  would  have  been  obtained  from  small 
ones  than  are  now  obtained  from  large  ones.  The  land  would  have  increased 
in  value,  and  the  farmers  and  planters  would  have  grown  rich  because  of 
increased  production  and  diminished  cost  of  exchange,  and  a  part  of  the  sur¬ 
plus  would  have  been  appropriated  to  the  purchase  of  books  and  news¬ 
papers,  and  musical  instruments  and  pictures,  and  thus  would  intellectual 
have  kept  pace  with  moral  and  physical  improvement.  Instead  of  all  this, 
the  period  from  1835  to  1843  was  one  of  diminished  production  and  in¬ 
creasing  poverty  and  crime,  ending  with  bankruptcy  and  repudiation. 

What  has  been  said  in  regard  to  iron  is  equally  true  in  regard  to  coal,  but 
it  is  unnecessary  to  go  into  detail.  Had  the  tariff  of  1828  been  adopted  as 
the  settled  policy  of  the  nation,  the  consumption  of  anthracite  would  by  this 
time  have  reached  10,000,000  of  tons,  and  the  vast  coal  fields  of  the  West 
would  likewise  be  giving  forth  their  products  by  millions,  and  thus  the 
food  of  the  farm  would  have  been  condensed  into  fuel  and  iron,  fitting  it  for 
transportation,  and  providing  means  of  transportation.  Instead  of  this,  we 
have  had  a  series  of  changes  that  have  involved  in  ruin  almost  all  that  have 
been  largely  interested  in  giving  to  the  nation  the  extraordinary  works  that 
connect  Philadelphia  and  New  York  with  the  great  coal  region  of  Pennsyl¬ 
vania,  and  State  bankruptcy  and  repudiation  have  been  followed  by  that  of 
companies  which  have  done  more  for  the  real  advantage  of  the  Union  than 
any  others  that  have  ever  existed  within  its  limits,  and  all  this  has  been  pro¬ 
duced  by  a  policy  under  which  the  whole  consumption  of  iron  was  reduced 
below  40  pounds  per  head,  when  it  might  long  since  have  reached  300. 

Had  the  production  of  iron  and  coal  been  allowed  to  increase,  and  the 
manufacture  of  cotton  to  grow,  we  should  be  now  consuming  a  million  and 
a  half  of  bales  ;  and  had  the  woollens  manufacture  been  allowed  to  grow, 
we  should  now  have  a  hundred  millions  of  sheep,  the  whole  of  whose  wool 
would  be  required  for  our  domestic  consumption,  for  those  who  produce 
largely  consume  largely. 

The  perfect  harmony  of  interests  is  nowhere  more  perfectly  exhibited 
than  in  a  thorough  examination  of  the  course  of  proceeding  in  relation  to 
both  coal  and  iron.  Both  were  heavily  protected  from  1816  to  1824,  but 
neither  grew,  because  the  iron  manufacture ,  the  cotton  and  the  woollen 
manufactures,  did  not  grow  ;  and  so  would  it  now  be,  were  iron  and  coal  pro¬ 
tected  at  the  cost  of  cotton  and  wool.  All  wax  and  wane  together,  and  the 


! 


44 


I 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


man  who  would  protect  himself  at  the  cost  of  his  neighbour,  makes  a  sad 
mistake.  It  is  useless  to  produce  iron  without  a  market,  and  that  market  is 
to  be  found  in  the  rolling-mill,  the  foundery,  the  machine-shop,  the  cut¬ 
ler’s  shop  and  that  of  the  axe-maker,  and  they  in  turn  must  find  a  market 
among  the  producers  of  food,  and  wool,  and  cotton.  The  shipwright  uses 
largely  of  iron,  and  that  he  may  do  so,  there  must  be  a  large  market  for 
sugar,  tea,  coffee,  and  other  of  the  luxuries  and  comforts  of  life.  The 
larger  the  market,  the  larger  will  be  the  consumption  of  iron,  and  the  larger 
the  latter,  the  more  Tapidly  will  the  former  grow.  In  a  wise  political 
economy  there  will  be  found  no  discords. 

CHAPTER  EIGHTH. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  POPULATION. 

Combination  of  action  is  indispensable  to  increase  in  the  value  of  labour. 
The  first  cultivator  can  neither  roll  nor  raise  a  log,  with  which  to  build 
himself  a  house.  He  makes  himself  a  hole  in  the  ground,  which  serves  in 
lieu  of  one.  He  cultivates  the  poor  soil  of  the  hills  to  obtain  a  little  corn, 
with  which  to  eke  out  the  supply  of  food  derived  from  snaring  the  game  in 
his  neighbourhood.  His  winter’s  supply  is  deposited  in  another  hole,  liable 
to  injury  from  the  water  which  filters  through  the  light  soil  into  which  alone 
he  can  penetrate.  He  is  in  hourly  danger  of  starvation.  At  length,  how¬ 
ever,  his  sons  grow  up.  They  combine  their  exertions  with  his,  and  now 
obtain  something  like  an  axe  and  a  spade.  They  can  sink  deeper  into  the 
soil ;  and  can  cut  logs,  and  build  something  like  a  house.  They  obtain 
more  corn  and  more  game,  and  they  can  preserve  it  better.  The  danger 
of  starvation  is  diminished.  Being  no  longer  forced  to  depend  for  fuel  upon 
the  decayed  wood  which  alone  their  father  could  use,  they  are  in  less  danger 
of  perishing  from  cold  in  the  elevated  ground  which,  from  necessity,  they 
occupy.  With  the  growth  of  the  family  new  soils  are  cultivated,  each  in 
succession  yielding  a  larger  return  to  labour,  and  they  obtain  a  constantly 
increasing  supply  of  the  necessaries  of  life  from  a  surface  diminishing  in 
its  ratio  to  the  number  to  be  fed  ;  and  thus  with  every  increase  in  the  return 
to  their  labour  the  power  of  combining  their  exertions  is  increased. 

If  we  look  now  to  the  solitary  settler  of  the  West,  even  where  provided 
with  both  axe  and  spade,  we  shall  see  him  obtaining,  with  extreme  difficulty, 
the  commonest  log  hut.  A  neighbour  arrives,  and  their  combined  efforts 
produce  a  new  house  with  less  than  half  the  labour  required  for  the  first. 
That  neighbour  brings  a  horse,  and  he  makes  something  like  a  cart.  The 
product  of  their  labour  is  now  ten  times  greater  than  was  that  of  the  first 
man  working  by  himself.  More  neighbours  come,  and  new  houses  are 
wanted.  A  “bee”  is  made,  and  by  the  combined  effort  of  the  neighbour¬ 
hood  the  third  house  is  completed  in  a  day  ;  whereas  the  first  cost  months, 
and  the  second  weeks,  of  far  more  severe  exertion.  These  new  neighbours 
have  brought  ploughs  and  horses,  and  now  better  soils  are  cultivated  and 
the  product  of  labour  is  again  increased,  as  is  the  power  to  preserve  the 
surplus  for  winter’s  use.  The  path  becomes  a  road.  Exchanges  begin. 
The  store  makes  its  appearance.  Labour  is  rewarded  by  larger  returns, 
because  aided  by  better  machinery  applied  to  better  soils.  The  town 
grows  up.  Each  successive  addition  to  the  population  brings  a  consumer 
and  a  producer.  The  shoemaker  wants  leather  and  corn  in  exchange  for 
his  shoes.  The  blacksmith  requires  fuel  and  food,  and  the  farmer  wants 
shoes  for  his  horses ;  and  with  the  increasing  facility  of  exchange  more 
labour  is  applied  to  production,  and  the  reward  of  labour  rises,  producing 
new  wants,  and  requiring  more  and  larger  exchanges.  The  road  becomes 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


45 


a  turnpike,  and  the  wagon  and  horses  are  seen  upon  it.  The  town  becomes 
a  city,  and  better  soils  are  cultivated  for  the  supply  of  its  markets,  while 
the  railroad  facilitates  exchanges  with  towns  and  cities  more  distant.  The 
tendency  to  union  and  to  combination  of  exertion  thus  grows  with  the  growth 
of  wealth.  In  a  state  of  extreme  poverty  it  cannot  be  developed.  The 
insignificant  tribe  of  savages  that  starves  on  the  product  of  the  upper  soil 
of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres  of  land,  looks  with  jealous  eyes  on  every 
intruder,  knowing  that  each  new  mouth  requiring  to  be  fed  tends  to  increase 
the  difficulty  of  obtaining  subsistence ;  whereas  the  farmer  rejoices  in  the 
arrival  of  the  blacksmith  and  the  shoemaker,  because  they  come  to  eat  on 
the  spot  the  corn  which  heretofore  he  has  carried  ten,  twenty,  or  thirty 
miles  to  market,  to  exchange  for  shoes  for  himself  and  his  horses.  With 
each  new  consumer  of  his  products  that  arrives  he  is  enabled  more  and  more 
to  concentrate  his  action  and  his  thoughts  upon  his  home,  while  each  new 
arrival  tends  to  increase  his  power  of  consuming  commodities  brought  from 
a  distance,  because  it  tends  to  diminish  his  necessity  for  seeking  at  a  dis¬ 
tance  a  market  for  the  produce  of  his  farm.  Give  to  the  poor  tribe  spades, 
and  the  knowledge  how  to  use  them,  and  the  power  of  association  will  begin. 
The  supply  of  food  becoming  more  abundant,  they  hail  the  arrival  of  the 
stranger  who  brings  them  knives  and  clothing  to  be  exchanged  for  skins 
and  corn  ;  wealth  grows,  and  the  habit  of  association — the  first  step  towards 
civilization — arises. 

It  is  not  good  for  man  to  be  alone,  and  yet  throughout  this  country,  we  find 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  men  flying  to  the  West,  there  to  commence 
the  work  of  cultivation  at  a  distance  from  their  fellow-men,  while  millions 
upon  millions  of  acres  of  rich  land  in  the  old  States  remain  untouched.  If,  now, 
we  refer  to  the  course  of  events  during  the  last  thirty  years,  we  see  that 
the  tendency  to  migration  increased  rapidly  between  1834  and  1842,  when 
the  building  of  mills  and  furnaces  ceased,  and  that  during  that  period 
we  colonized  Texas  and  Oregon.  In  the  years  which  followed,  the  tendency 
to  emigrate  diminished,  to  break  out  afresh  under  the  influence  of  the 
policy  of  1846.  The  last  twelve  months  have  witnessed  the  departure  of 
very  many  thousands  to  California,  Santa  Fe,  &c.,  while  the  emigration  to 
Iowa,  Wisconsin,  and  other  portions  of  the  extensive  West,  is  entirely  with¬ 
out  precedent. 

“It  is  estimated, ’hsays  the  editor  of  one  of  the  Iowa  papers, 

“  That  between  fourteen  and  fifteen  hundred  wagons  have  crossed  the  Mississippi  at 
this  place,  within  the  last  five  weeks,  bringing  emigrants  from  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illi¬ 
nois,  and  all  of  them  seeking  homes  in  Iowa.  They  have,”  says  he,  “generally  gone  to 
the  new  counties  on  and  west  of  the  Des  Moines  river,  where,  we  know,  they  will  find 
lands  and  other  agricultural  advantages,  equal  to  any  in  the  world.  *  Allowing  five  per¬ 
sons  to  a  wagon,  there  have  crossed  at  this  place  alone,  between  7000  and  8000  persons. 
We  are  told  that  the  same  extraordinary  influx  of  immigrants  has  taken  place  at  all  the 
other  crossings  along  the  river  Dubuque,  down  to  Keokuk.  It  is,  therefore,  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  from  30,000  to  50,000  persons  have  been  added  to  our  population  within 
the  last  month  and  a  half,  and  the  tide  is  still  pressing  towards  us.”* 

If  we  desire  to  find  the  reason  for  the  extraordinary  tendency  now  prevail¬ 
ing  to  seek  the  West,  it  may  be  found  in  the  diminishing  value  of  labour  in 
the  older  States.  The  production  of  iron,  coal,  cotton  and  woollen  cloths, 
and  of  commodities  generally,  has  diminished ;  and  there  is  not  only  no  de¬ 
mand  for  labour  in  the  construction  of  new  mills  and  furnaces,  or  in  the 
opening  of  new  coal  mines,  but  the  number  of  persons  employed  is  actually 
diminished.  The  natural  increase  of  our  population  is  almost  600,000,  and 
the  immigration  of  the  present  year  is  about  300,000 ;  and  thus  900,000 


*  Burlington  (Iowa)  Gazette. 


46 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


persons  are  added,  while  the  number  that  can  find  employment  in  the  old 
States  is  less  than  it  was  two  years  since.  All  these  people  must  eat,  and  it 
they  cannot  obtain  food  in  exchange  for  labour,  employed  in  the  mining  of 
coal  or  manufacture  of  cloth  or  iron,  they  must  raise  it  for  themselves,  and 
hence  it  is  that  the  population  of  the  new  States  grows  now  so  rapidly. 

Here  is  a  case  of  apparent  discord.  The  people  of  the  new  States 
need  neighbours  to  help  them  to  make  roads  and  build  churches  and 
school-houses,  and  the  state  of  things  that  injures  the  farmers  of  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  New  York  and  Virginia,  benefits  all  those  who  are  already  m  Wis¬ 
consin  and  Iowa.  They  profit  by  free-trade  and  would  be  injured  by  pro¬ 
tection.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  however,  directly  the  reverse  is  the  case. 
The  harmony  of  interests  is  perfect,  and  the  discord  is  only  apparent.  1  he 
new  States  would  grow  faster  under  protection  than  *h®y  now  do  under 
free-trade.  Hut  for  the  abolition  of  protection,  in  1832-3,  Iowa,  Wis¬ 
consin,  &c.,  would  now  be  populous  States,  as  I  propose  now  to  show. 
From  1821  to  1825,  there  existed  no  inducement  for  emigration  Irom  Lu- 
rope  to  this  country.  Wages  here  were  low,  and  the  difficulty  of  obtaining 
employment  was  great.  The  average  number  of  immigrants  was  but  J13y»and 
the  last  year  was  little  more  than  the  average.  By  1829,  it  reached  24,000. 
Five  years  after,  (1834,)  it  was  65,000.  The  average  of  the  next  nine  years 
was  but  72,000 ;  and,  in  the  last  of  those  years,  it  was  but  75,179.  Like  every 
thing  else,  immigration  was  stationary.  In  the  four  following  years  it  was 
trebled.  This  year  it  may  reach  200,000.  It  has  already  begun  to  decline. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  demand  for  labour  grows  with  increase  in  the  num¬ 
ber  of  modes  in  which  it  can  be  applied  ;  and  that  with  every  step  in  that 
direction  the  return  to  labour  increases,  enabling  the  labourer  to  obtain  larger 
wafres — that  is  to  say,  more  food,  fuel,  clothing,  books  and  newspapers,  and 
greater  facilities  for  the  education  of  his  children,  in  return  to  the  same 
labour.  We  see  that  the  power  to  obtain  these  good  things  increased  rapid  y 
from  1830  to  1834,  and  that  the  effect  was  to  produce  a  vast  increase  ot 
immigration.  With  every  such  increase  there  must,  necessarily,  have  been 
increased  power  of  combination,  accompanied  by  increased  facilities  lor  ob¬ 
taining  the  things  for  which  men  are  willing  to  labour ;  offering  nevv  attrac¬ 
tions  for  the  labourer,  and  producing  a  further  increased  tendency  in  the  same 
direction.  In  a  former  chapter,  I  have  supposed  that  it  might  by  this  time  have 
reached  1,000,000  per  annum,  and  that  it  would  have  done  had  it  doubled  but 
once  in  four  years.  A  duplication  in  three  years  would  have  brought  it  by  this 
time  to  2,000,000.  Taking  it,  however,  at  the  former  quanpty  we  should 
have  imported  in  the  intermediate  period  nearly  6,000,000,  instead  of  less 
than  2,000,000.  If  we  now  add  thereto  the  natural  increase  of  all  these 
people,  we  would  have  at  this  moment  a  population  exceeding  by  at  least 
5,000,000  the  number  we  now  have;  and  of  these,  while  vast  numbers 
would  have  been  employed  in  giving  value  to  the  lands  of  the  older  States, 
l  by  openino-  mines  and  building  furnaces,  millions  would  have  sought  the 
West,  the°access  to  which  would  have  been  rendered  daily  more  and  more 
easy  by  the  increased  facility  of  obtaining  iron  for  the  construction  of  steam¬ 
boats  and  rail-roads.  .  .  ,  .,A 

The  large  immigration  of  the  last  and  previous  years  is  by  many  ascribed 

to  the  troubles  in  Europe  ;  but  their  effect  has  been  small.  All  commodities 
tend  to  seek  the  best  market,  and  to  this  rule  labour  forms  no  exception. 
The  people  of  Europe  are  anxious  to  transfer  themselves  here  because  man 
is  here  a  commodity  of  more  value  than  in  Europe,  and  can  obtain  moie 
food,  fuel  and  clothing,  and  better  shelter,  in  return  for  the  same  quantity  ot 
labour,  than  he  can  at  home  ;  and  the  more  widely  extended  the  knowledge 
that  such  is  the  fact,  the  greater  is  the  anxiety  to  reach  our  shores.  Had 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


47 


the  demand  for  labour  continued  to  increase  as  it  did  from  1844  to  1847,  the 
immigration  of  the  present  year  would  probably  far  exceed  even  half-a-million ; 
whereas,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  there  will  be  a  great  diminu¬ 
tion. 

CHAPTER  NINTH. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  THE  MEANS  OF  TRANSPORTATION - INTERNAL  AND 

EXTERNAL. 

The  more  widely  men  are  separated,  the  greater  is  the  difficulty  attendant 
on  the  making  of  roads,  and  the  greater  is  the  quantity  of  labour  lost  to  the 
farmer  in  performing  the  work  of  transportation,  and  the  poorer  he  remains. 
The  more  men  are  enabled  to  combine  their  exertions,  the  greater  is  the 
facility  of  obtaining  roads ;  the  less  their  labour  lost  in  transportation,  the  more 
can  be  given  to  the  work  of  production,  and  the  richer  will  the  farmer  grow. 

During  the  years  from  1835  to  1840,  the  tendency  was  to  separation, 
and  there  was  great  need  of  roads.  The  widely  scattered  settlers  of  Illinois, 
Indiana,  Michigan  and  Mississippi  could  not  make  them  of  themselves,  and 
none  would  trust  them  individually  with  the  means  necessary  for  their  con¬ 
struction.  To  remove  this  difficulty,  they  united  in  borrowing  the  food  and 
clothing  and  the  iron  required  for  the  purpose,  pledging  the  faith  of  the 
State  for  payment  of  the  cost,  and  the  result  was  universal  ruin.  Men  were 
scattering  themselves,  and  labour  was  becoming  less  productive ;  the  con¬ 
sequence  of  which  was,  that  immigration  ceased  to  increase  ;  and  it  was  pre¬ 
cisely  when  the  growth  of  population  from  that  source  was  arrested ,  that 
we  were  extending  the  area  of  settlement,  and  diminishing  the  power  of 
combining  exertion  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  the  return  to  labour. 

We  are  now  doing  precisely  the  same  thing.  Men  are  scattering  them¬ 
selves  widely,  and  there  is  a  great  demand  for  roads.  The  papers  from 
day  to  day  inform  us  of  the  new  ones  that  are  being  made  in  the  West  with  iron 
that  is  obtained  in  exchange  for  certificates  of  debt,  bearing  interest,  that 
must  be  paid.  The  men  who  should  be  making  iron  are  seeking  the  West, 
and  borrowing  the  iron  they  should  be  making,  and,  if  the  system  be  long 
continued,  the  result  must  be  the  same  that  was  witnessed  in  1842-3. 

It  is  to  this  unnatural  expansion  of  a  small  population  over  large  surfaces 
that  is  due  the  agitation  of  the  question  of  improvement  by  the  general 
government,  one  of  the  most  dangerous  now  remaining  to  be  settled.  If 
the  settlement  and  cultivation  of  new  lands,  and  the  formation  of  new  States, 
proceeded  naturally,  the  population  would  become  sufficiently  rich  to  be 
enabled  to  make  their  own  roads  and  improve  their  own  harbours  ;  but  as 
that  cannot  be  the  case  under  the  existing  system,  they  look  to  the  govern¬ 
ment  for  aid.  At  this  moment,  it  is  proposed  that  a  vast  amount  of  land 
should  be  given,  or  sold  at  a  very  low  price,  to  aid  in  the  making  of  a  road 
to  California,  a  work  that,  if  prosecuted  with  vigour,  would  be  finished  half  a 
century  before  it  would  pay  interest  on  its  cost,  because  it  would  tend  only 
to  promote  the  further  dispersion  of  population,  and  the  further  diminution 
in  the  productiveness  of  labour.  We  need  concentration  to  render  labour 
more  productive,  and  to  promote  immigration ;  and  if  that  be  obtained,  the 
natural  and  profitable  settlement  of  the  country  beyond  the  Mississippi  will 
go  on  so  rapidly  as  to  insure  a  connection  with  the  Pacific,  with  advantage 
to  all,  in  a  very  reasonable  time.  It  is  doubtful  if  there  is  a  single  instance 
on  record  of  a  road  having  been  made  with  a  view  to  attract  population,  or 
one  that  has  been  altogether  dependent  on  through  travel  and  trade,  as  this 
must  for  a  long  time  be,  that  has  not  proved  a  failure.  To  make  roads  pro¬ 
ductive,  they  must  pass  through  countries  where  men  consume  on  the  land 
a  good  portion  of  the  products  of  the  land,  and  grow  rich,  and  not  through 


48 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


those  in  which,  because  of  the  absence  of  consuming  population,  every  thing 
that  is  raised  on  the  land  is  sent  from  the  land,  and  its  owners  remain  poor. 

If  this  road  be  now  made,  there  will  be  great  Joss  somewhere,  and  fall 
where  it  may,  it  will  be  a  loss  to  the  community. 

The  reason  why  such  roads  are  unprofitable  is,  that  the  transportation 
upon  them  is  almost  entirely  limited  to  bulky  articles  that  must  be  carried 
at  low  freights.  The  most  valuable  of  all  commodities  is  man,  and  upon 
such  roads  the  travel  is  small,  for  the  people  are  poor,  and  must  remain  at 
home.  Their  products  pay  little  to  the  road,  yet  the  little  that  is  left  pur¬ 
chases  but  little  of  silk,  or  cloth,  or  other  of  the  articles  of  merchandise 
upon  which  high  toils  can  be  charged.  Where,  on  the  contrary,  there  is  a 
large  consuming  population  on  the  line,  the  way-travel  is  great,  and  the 
commodities  that  pass  to  market  pay  good  freights,  while  the  balance  pays 
for  much  merchandise  to  be  returned. 

Applying  these  views  to  the  means  of  intercourse  with  foreign  nations, 
we  may  now,  I  think,  see  why  it  is  that  shipping  grows  with  protection. 

The  merchandise  we  send  to  Europe  is  bulky,  and  the  returns  are  com¬ 
pact,  a  consequence  of  which  is  that  the  outward  cargo  has  generally  had  to 
bear  almost  all  the  charges  of  the  voyage. 

From  1830  to  1834,  the  reward  of  labour  was,  however,  such  as  induced  a 
great  increase  of  immigration,  and  thus  was  secured  a  valuable  return  cargo, 
the  receipts  from  which  tended  largely  to  diminish  the  charges  on  outward 
freights,  and  thus  the  planter  and  farmer  were  enabled  to  consume  more 
largely  of  the  merchandise  of  Europe,  which  pays  high  freights,  and  more 
of  tea  and  coffee,  while  the  demand  for  the  raw  materials  used  in  manufac¬ 
tures,  also  enabled  ships  to  bring  them  as  part  of  their  return  cargoes, 
facilitating  the  transmission  of  our  produce  and  merchandise  to  other  parts 
of  the  world. 

From  1835  to  1844,  immigration  was  almost  stationary.  So  was  ship¬ 
ping.  From  1845  to  the  present  time  immigration  has  grown  rapidly.  So  has  % 
shipping.  We  now  import  300,000  persons,  and  the  usual  allowance  being 
two  persons  to  five  tons,  it  follows  that  shipping  to  the  extent  of  250,000 
tons,  making  three  trips  per  annum,  is  so  employed.  Freights  to  Europe 
are  low,  because  the  return  cargo  is  large  and  valuable.  Ships  of  the  first 
class  are  now  built  expressly  for  the  importation  of  men,  and  so  will  they 
continue  to  be,  if  the  number  of  passengers  shall  continue  to  increase. 
With  a  diminution  of  it,  the  building  of  ships  will  diminish,  and  freights 
to  Europe  will  rise,  because  a  valuable  return  cargo  cannot  then  be  cal¬ 
culated  upon.  The  rise  of  freights  will,  as  a  matter  of  course,  diminish 
the  number  of  articles  that  will  bear  exportation,  and  the  quantity  of  mer¬ 
chandise  that  can  be  imported  from  Europe,  while  the  diminution  in  the 
number  of  mouths  requiring  tea,  coffee,  and  other  similar  commodities,  will 
tend  still  further  to  diminish  the  tendency  towards  the  building  of  ships. 

Were  we  now  importing  a  million  of  people,  the  shipping  required  for 
that  purpose  alone  would  be  830,000  tons,  and  freights  to  Europe  would  be 
almost  nominal,  for  great  numbers  would  go  altogether  in  ballast.  What¬ 
ever  tends  to  increase  the  bulk  of  the  commodities  imported  tends  equally 
to  diminish  the  cost  of  transportation,  and  to  increase  the  export  of  the  pro¬ 
ducts  of  the  farmer  and  planter.  If  we  imported  raw  silk,  we  should  import 
Frenchmen  to  manufacture  it,  and  coffee  for  them  to  drink,  and  the  ships 
that  imported  the  silk,  the  men,  and  the  coffee,  would  cheaply  transport 
cotton  or  cotton  cloth.  If  we  import  gutta  percha,  we  obtain  it  from  one  who 
desires  to  buy  cloth,  and  to  whom  cloth  can  then  be  cheaply  sent.  If  we 
import  gutta  percha  goods,  we  obtain  them  from  men  who  have  cloth  to  sell, 
and  to  whom  cotton  cannot  be  cheaply  sent.  If  we  desire,  then,  to  increase 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


49 


our  commerce  and  our  navigation,  the  object  is  to  be  accomplished  by  the 
adoption  of  measures  that  will  bring  the  loom  to  take  its  place  by  the  side 
of  the  plough.  The  harmony  of  the  agricultural,  manufacturing,  and  ship¬ 
ping  interests  would,  here  appear  to  be  complete. 

With  such  an  importation  of  men,  there  would  be  an  annual  addition  of 
1,000,000  with  whom  we  would  have  perfect  freedom  of  trade,  uninterfered 
with  by  custom-house  officers,  sailors,  or  ships.  At  the  end  of  ten  years, 
there  would  be  thus  made  an  addition  of  twelve  or  thirteen  millions  of 
persons,  who  would  consume  twice  as  much  cotton  as  is  now  consumed  by 
the  whole  people  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  The  harmony  between  the 
views  of  the  free-traders  and  those  of  the  protectionists  would  thus  appear  to 
be  almost  perfect.  The  more  the  subject  is  examined,  the  more  obvious 
does  it  become  that  the  only  road  to  perfect  freedom  of  trade  lies  through 
perfect  protection. 

CHAPTER  TENTH. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  THE  FARMER. 

« 

Among  the  large  exporters  of  food  are  Ireland,  Canada,  Russia,  and  the 
United  States. 

The  first  exports  both  food  and  population.  The  bulk  of  her  trade  is  alto¬ 
gether  outward,  and  the  food  has  to  bear  all  the  cost  of  the  voyage  out  and 
home.  The  yield  to  the  producer  is  therefore  small,  and  tends  rapidly  to 
diminish,  the  consequences  of  which  are,  famine,  pestilence,  and  depopu¬ 
lation. 

The  second  exports  food  and  lumber,  and  imports  some  population  for 
home  consumption,  and  much  that  is  exported  to  the  United  States.  The 
texcess  of  exports  is,  however,  sufficiently  great  to  throw  nearly  the  whole 
weight  of  the  voyage  out  and  home  upon  the  producer. 

/  Neither  of  these  countries  has  any  protection  against  the  colonial  system. 
The  food  they  export  comes  back  to  them  in  the  form  of  cloth  and  iron,  duty 
free,  and  almost  freight  free,  because  the  bulk  of  the  traffic  is  in  the  outward 
direction. 

Russia  exports  food,  but  she  protects  manufactures,  and  thus  makes  a  market 
for  much  of  it  at  home.  Her  capacity  to  supply  grain  is  by  one  authority 
stated  to  be  equal  to  17,000,000,  and  by  another  28,000,000  of  quarters, 
(153  and  252  millions  of  bushels  of  60  pounds  weight,)  and  we  are  told 
that — 

« In  the  years  when  there  is  no  foreign  demand  for  this  surplus,  a  portion  of  it  is  em¬ 
ployed,  with  little  regard  to  economy,  in  fattening  cattle  for  the  butchers,  and  for  the  sake 
of  the  tallow.  Much  is  absolutely  wasted,  and  the  remainder,  left  unthreshed,  becomes 
the  prey  of  birds  and  mice.”  Also  that  “  if  a  foreign  market  could  be  found  for  it,  Russia 
could  easily  export  annually  50,000,000  of  quarters  of  grain,  (equal  to  450,000,000  of 
bushels  of  sixty  pounds  weight.)”* 

The  system  of  that  country  is  adverse  to  the  growth  of  wealth  and  in¬ 
telligence.  Large  armies  and  hosts  of  officials  are  maintained  out  of  her  heavy 
taxes,  paid  from  the  earnings  of  the  producing  classes,  while  the  existence 
of  serfdom,  and  the  necessity  for  giving  so  large  a  portion  of  the  lives  of  the 
healthiest  and  best-formed  of  the  population  to  the  business  of  carrying 
sabres  and  muskets,  tends  to  prevent  the  existence  of  any  hope  of  improve¬ 
ment;  and  without  hope  there  can  be  little  disposition  for  exertion.  Never¬ 
theless,  as  we  see,  the  Russian  has  food  to  waste,  while  Irishmen  perish  by 
tens  of  thousands  of  starvation. 

In  this  country  the  system  of  protection  exists.  It  is  now  limited  to  thirty 


*  London  Economist. 


50 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


per  cent. ;  and  for  the  last  twenty  years  it  has  hut  once,  and  for  a  very  brief 
period,  been  at  a  lower  point.  By  its  aid  there  has  been  pioduced  a 
diversification  of  pursuits,  that  enables  men  to  economize  much  time  and 
many  things  that  would  otherwise  be  wasted,  while  women  and  children  find 
employment  at  such  wages  as  enable  them  to  be  large  consumers  of  both 
food  and  clothing.  Wages  are  high,  and  hence  it  is  that  there  is  so  large  an 
import  of  the  most  valuable  of  commodities — man. 

We  imported  last  year  about  300,000  persons.  Estimating  their  con¬ 
sumption  of  food  at  twenty  cents  per  day  for  each,  there  was  thus  made. a 
market  on  the  land  for  the  products  of  the  land  to  the  extent  of  twenty  mil¬ 
lions  of  dollars.  Their  transportation  required  the  constant  employment  of 
250,000  tons  of  shipping,  and  ships  carried  freight  to  Europe  at  very  low 
rates,  because  certain  of  obtaining  valuable  return  cargoes..  The  farmer 
thus  obtained  a  large  home  market,  and  the  power  of  exporting  cheaply  to 
the  foreign  one,  and  to  the  conjoined  operation  of  these  two  causes  is  due 
the  fact  that  wheat  and  flour  have  continued  so  high’  in  price. 

We  may  now,  I  think,  understand  many  curious  facts  now  passing  before 
our  eyes.  Food  is  so  abundant  in  Russia  that  it  is  wasted,  and  yet  among 
the  large  exporters  of  food  to  Great  Britain  is  this  country,  in  which  it  sell s 
at  a  price  almost  as  high  as  in  Liverpool,  and  now  even  higher.  The 
produce  of  Russia  has  to  bear  all  the  charges  out  and  home,  and  the  con¬ 
sequence  is,  that  the  producer  remains  poor  and  makes  no  roads,  and 
thus  the  cost  of  transportation,  internal  and  external,  continues,  and  must 
continue  great.  The  farmer  x>f  the  United  States  sends  his  produce  to 
market  cheap,  because  the  return  cargo,  being  chiefly  man,  is  valuable,  and 
the  space  it  occupies  is  great.  He  therefore  grows  rich,  and  makes  roads, 
and  canals,  and  builds  steamboats ;  and  thus  is  the  cost  of  transportation, 
internal  and  external,  so  far  diminished  that  the  difference  in  the  price  of  a 
barrel  of  flour  in  Pittsburgh  and  in  Liverpool  is,  when  we  look  at  the  distance, 
almost  inconceivably  small. 

The  bulk  of  the  trade  of  Canada  is  outwards;  and  the  consequence  is 
that  outward  freights  are  high,  while  our  imports  of  men  and  other  valuable 
commodities  keep  them  low  with  us,  and  therefore  it  is  that  the  cost  of  trans- 
portino-  wheat  and  flour  from  our  side  of  the  line  is  so  much  lower  than 
from  the  other,  that  both  now  pass  through  New  York  on  their  way  to  Liver¬ 
pool.*  Hence  it  is  that  there  has  arisen  so  vehement  a  desire  for  commercial  re- 


*  From  one  of  the  journals  of  the  day  I  take  the  following  extract  from  a  Canadian 
letter 

u  Our  commercial  relations  with  your  Union  are  a  subject  of  great  anxiety  with  us  at  the 
present  time.  Wheat  is  worth  from  2s.  to  3s.,  York,  more  on  your  side  of  the  Lake  than 
on  this.  This  is  owing  to  two  causes :  the  20  per  cent,  duty  you  impose  upon  our  grain 
when  imported  and  sold  in  your  market,  and  the  want  of  a  sufficient  number  of  resident 
wheat  buyers  who  have  sufficient  capital  to  enable  them  to  take  advantage  of  your  bond¬ 
ing  Act.  If  your  Cabinet  has  determined  to  annex  us,  they  will  refuse  us  reciprocity.  In 
1847,  we  exported  of  Canada  wheat,  3,349,686  bushels,  and  in  1848,  3,413,397.  We  shall 
export,  at  least,  twice  as  much  this  year ;  for  every  acre  of  land  that  was  in  a  condition  to 
grow  wheat  was  sown  with  that  grain,  and  the  crop  throughout  the  whole  of  Western 
Canada,  except  perhaps  the  Middle  District,  is  unusually  heavy. 

“  {  The  Examiner’  estimates,  and  I  think  with  tolerable  accuracy,  that  our  farmeis  will 
this  year  lose  $1,500,000,  from  a  want  of  having  free  access  for  their  produce  to  your 
markets.  The  Convention  of  Delegates  from  each  of  these  Provinces,  now  sitting  at 
Halifax,  have  under  consideration  the  question  of  securing  a  more  easy  interchange  of 
commodities  between  the  Provinces  and  the  States.  A  notion  has  got  abroad,  that  if 
Canada,  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  Prince  Edward  Island  and  Newfoundland  were 
united,  they  would  then  have  a  better  chance  of  obtaining  free  trade  from  you  than  in 
their  present  isolated  condition.  It  is  rumoured  that  the  Home  Government,  for  some 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


51 


ciprocity,  and  even  for  annexation.  The  protective  system  has  thus  not 
only  the  effect  of  bringing  consumers  to  take  their  places  by  the  side  of 
the  producer,  facilitating  the  consumption  on  the  land  of  the  products 
of  the  land,  and  facilitating  also  the  exportation  of  the  surplus  to  foreign 
markets,  by  diminishing  outward  freights,  but  the  further  one  of  producing 
among  our  neighbours  a  strong  desire  for  the  establishment  of  the  same  per¬ 
fect  freedom  of  trade  that  now  exists  among  the  several  States,  by  becoming 
themselves  a  part  of  the  Union.  Protection,  therefore,  tends  to  the  increase 
of  commerce  and  the  establishment  of  free  trade,  while  the  British  system 
tends  everywhere  to  the  destruction  of  commerce  and  to  the  production  of  a 
necessity  for  restriction. 

We  see,  thus,  that  if  we  desire  to  secure  the  command  of  that  which  is 
falsely  called  “  the  great  grain  market  of  the  world,”  it  is  to  be  effected  by 
the  adoption  of  such  measures  as  will  secure  valuable  return  freights.  The 
most  costly  and  the  most  valuable  of  all  are  men.  The  least  so  are  pig-iron 
and  coal.  The  more  of  the  latter  we  import,  the  larger  will  be  our  surplus 
of  food,  the  higher  will  be  the  outward  freight,  internal  and  external,  the 
greater  will  be  the  waste,  and  the  poorer  will  be  the  farmer.  The  more  of  the 
former  we  import,  the  smaller  will  be  our  surplus  of  food,  the  lower  will  be 
the  outward  freights,  and  the  more  numerous  will  be  the  commodities  that 
can  go  to  Europe,  to  be  given  in  exchange  for  luxuries  that  now  we  cannot 
purchase. 

Were  we  now  importing  a  million  of  men  annually,  the  downward  freights 
on  our  canals  and  railroads  would  be  greatly  diminished,  while  the  outward 
freight  across  the  ocean  would  be  little  more  than  would  pay  the  cost 
attendant  upon  loading  and  unloading  it,  and  yet  we  should  be  building 
ships  and  steamboats,  and  making  railroads  at  a  rate  of  which  we  could  now 
form  no  conception. 

By  aid  of  these  men,  coal  and  iron  would  be  produced  by  millions  of  tons, 
and  the  increased  facility  of  obtaining  food  and  iron  would  give  new  facilities 
for  building  cotton  and  woollen  mills,  and  type-foundries  and  printing-offices, 
and  all  the  men  employed  in  them  would  be  large  consumers  of  food,  and 
thus  would  the  farmer  gain  on  every  hand. 

The  labourer,  in  Ireland,  obtains  6d.  or  8d.  for  a  day’s  labour  when  em¬ 
ployed,  but  the  average  of  the  year  is  even  less  than  the  former  sum.  '  He  is 
our  great  customer  for  Indian  corn,  the  cost  of  which,  by  the  time  it  reaches 
him,  is  about  4s.  or  five  times  what  it  has  yielded  to  the  farmer,  delivered 
on  his  farm.  Eight  day’s  labour  are  thus  required  for  the  purchase  of  a 
bushel.  Transfer  that  man  to  the  coal-fields  of  Ohio  or  Indiana,  and  he 
may  purchase  far  more  by  the  work  of  a  single  day.  He  at  once  becomes 
a  much  better  customer  for  food,  and  is  enabled  to  consume,  largely  of  sugar 
and  coffee,  to  the  advantage  of  the  merchant — of  wool,  to  the  further  advan¬ 
tage  of  the  cultivator  of  the  land — of  lumber,  to  the  advantage  of  the  man 
who  has  land  uncultivated  that  he  desires  to  clear — of  cotton,  and  indigo, 
to  the  benefit  of  the  planter — and  thus  it  is  that  every  interest  in  the  country 
profits  by  the  transfer  of  the  poor  cultivators  of  Ireland,  and  of  Germany,  to 
the  coal  fields  and  iron-ore  beds  of  the  Union. 

The  young  Englishman  who  aspires  to  be  an  operative  spinner,  and  now  fills 

purpose  of  its  own,  has  recommended  this  federation,  and  of  course  the  Colonial  puppets 
who  move  at  the  dictation  of  Downing  street,  will  pretend  that  a  measure  which  has  been 
forced  upon  them,  originated  in  the  commercial  necessities  of  the  Provinces.  To  obtain 
the  free  trade  they  desire,  the  Nova-Scotians  showed  symptoms  of  a  willingness  to  admit 
your  fishing  vessels  a  little  nearer  than  within  three  miles  of  their  shores;  and  Canada 
would  probably  throw  open  her  coasting-trade  to  your  vessels,  if  England  will  permit  her, 
after  the  new  Navigation  Law  comes  into  operation.” 


o2 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


the  place  of  the  latter  in  his  absence,  receives  7s.  6d. — $1'80  per  week,* * * § 
the  price  of  two  bushels  of  Indian  corn.  Place  him  in  Alabama,  and  he  will 
earn  the  present  price  of  twenty  bushels,  and  he  will  then  eat  more  and 
better  food,  and  consume  ten  pounds  of  cotton  where  now  he  consumes 
but  one. 

The  hand-loom  weavers,  of  whom  England  has  800,000,  without  work  ior 
one-third  of  the  number,!  consume  little  food  or  cotton.  Transfer  them 
here,  and  they  will  become  large  consumers  of  both. 

The  agricultural  labourer  of  England  receives  8s.  or  95.  a  week,  little 
over  the  price  of  a  bushel  and  a  half  of  wheat.  Transfer  him  here,  and 
his  services  as  a  miner,  or  labourer,  will  enable  him  to  earn  the  price  of  five 
or  six  bushels.  He  will  then  consume  more  and  better  food,  and  largely 
of  cotton. 

The  poor  Highlander,  driven  from  his  native  hills  to  make  room  for  sheep, 
starves  in  the  miserable  lodging-houses  of  Glasgow.;}:  Could  he  be  trans¬ 
ferred  here,  he  would  become  a  large  consumer  of  food  and  clothing. 

Our  present  policy  is  directly  the  reverse  of  all  this.  We  are  exporting 
men  by  tens  of  thousands  to  California,  and  by  hundreds  of  thousands  to 
the  West,  thus  diminishing  the  power  of  combination  of  action,  and  increasing 
the  necessity  for  the  use  of  ships  and  wagons  to  carry  their  produce  to 
market.  Thus  far  the  immigration  has  been  maintained,  and  freights  to 
Europe  are  consequently  low,  but,  with  the  diminished  wages  of  the  labourer, 
immigration  must  fall  offl  and  then  freights  must  rise,  and  thus  the  same 
measures  that  diminish  the  home  consumption  must  increase  the  cost  of 
goino-  to  the  distant  market.  The  cost  of  the  voyage  out  and  home  must 
be  paid  by  somebody.  If  there  is  no  return  freight,  the  farmer  or  planter 
must  pay  the  whole.  If  there  is  a  large  and  valuable  return  freight,  he 
need  pay  scarcely  any  portion  of  the  cost.  To  California,  we  must  pay  all  the 
outward  freight,  for  there  is  no  cargo  to  be  returned.  Bulky  articles,  the 
produce  of  the  farm,  cannot,  therefore,  go  from  here,  and  the  consequence  is, 
that  every  emigrant  to  that  country  is  a  customer  lost  to  the  farmer,  and  a 
customer  to  a  diminished  extent  to  the  planter. 

The  most  costly  and  most  valuable  of  commodities,  as  I  have  already  said, 
is  Man.  The  more  valuable  the  commodities  that  can  be  imported  into 
any  country,  without  going  in  debt  for  them,  the  richer  that  country  will 
grow  ;  and  this  is  equally  true  of  every  State,  county,  township,  town, 
&c.,  into  which  it  may  be  divided.  Of  this  no  one  can  doubt,  and  yet 
every  portion  of  the  Union  is  engaged  in  exporting  to  the  West,  to  Texas, 
Oregon,  and  California,  this  most  valuable  of  all  commodities,  receiving 

*  London  Economist,  Vol.  VI.  p.  259. 

-{■  Edinburgh  Review,  October,  1849. 

^  A  recent  British  journal,  speaking  of  the  Queen’s  visit  to  Scotland,  thus  describes  the 
effects  of  the  desolating  policy  that  has  been  pursued  in  the  Highlands  : — 

a  The  untilled  hills  and  glens  tell  their  own  story  most  effectually.  The  sheep  farms  of 
twenty  miles  length  and  breadth  proclaim  the  dark  character  of  that  policy  which  is  fast 
making  of  the  Highlands  a  great  hunting-ground.  Her  Majesty  is  to  pass  through  a  land 
of  Ameers.  The  same  wretched  policy  as  that  which  has  desolated  Scinde,  originating  in 
the  same  miserable  cause— the  selfishness  and  pleasure-seeking  of  the  owners— has  laid 
waste  the  Highlands.  They  want  a  Sir  Charles  Napier— a  legislative  if  not  a  military 
Napier.  They  need  the  repeal  of  the  game  and  entail  laws ,  and  with  those  laws  repealed,  in 
twenty  years  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  finding  a  population  to  welcome  the  monarch  on  the 
beautiful  but  now  desolate  shores  of  Loch  Long  and  Loch  Awe.  The  pines§  would  flourish 
again;  and  newspaper  reporters  would  not  be  weighing  the  question  whether  there  be 
or  be  not  a  habitable  house  where  they  might  rest  within  ten  miles  of  Loch  Laggan.” — 
North  British  Mail. 

§  The  standard  of  the  Campbells,  who  inhabited  this  region,  bore  a  pine. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


53 


nothing  in  return.  We  import  now  hundreds  of  thousands,  yet  the  old  States 
retain  scarcely  any  of  them.  All  must  go  West,  for  the  working  of  mills  and 
furnaces  is  stopped,  and  the  building  of  mills  is  at  an  end  until  we  have  a 
change  of  policy.  Such  is  the  effect  of  the  colonial  system,  established  for 
the  purpose  of  preventing  combination  of  action  among  the  people  composing 
various  nations  of  the  world,  and  maintained  by  the  pursuit  of  measures 
destructive  alike  to  the  interests  of  the  people  of  England,  and  of  the  world 
at  large.  “Many  of  our  manufacturers,”  says  a  Manchester  broker,  “  have 
exported  to  a  loss,  and  if,  by  so  doing,  they  have  kept  foreign  competition  at 
bay,  and  checked  the  increase  of  industrial  establishments  abroad,  it  is  an 
unenviable  success;  still,”  he  adds,  “  as  this  country  is  doomed  to  be  a  manu¬ 
facturing  state,  nothing  remains  but  to  beat  or  be  beaten.”* 

These  losses  are  of  perpetual  recurrence.  They  are  a  natural  conse¬ 
quence  of  the  “  war  upon  the  labour  and  capital  of  the  world,”  in  which 
England  must  “  beat  or  be  beaten.”  They  must  be  paid  by  somebody,  and 
they  are  paid  by  the  labourers  of  England,  who  are  compelled  to  work  at 
diminished  wages ;  but  to  a  much  greater  extent  by  the  labourers  of  the 
world,  who  are  compelled  to  be  idle,  earning  nothing  to  pay  the  farmers  and 
planters  for  food  and  clothing,  when  they  would  gladly  be  employed,  earning 
wherewith  to  feed  and  clothe  themselves  and  their  children. 

How  small  is,  under  these  circumstances,  the  power  to  consume  food, 
will  be  obvious  to  those  who  see  that  three-fourths  of  the  people  of  England 
are  consumers  and  not  producers,  and  that  yet  their  import  of  grain  of  the 
last  two  years  of  free  trade  is  but  two  bushels  per  head.  How  insignificant 
is  the  quantity  she  takes  from  us,  and  trivial  the  amount  when  distributed 
among  the  people  of  the  Union,  may  be  seen  from  the  following  statement 
of  the  last  two  years  of  comparatively  large /export : — 

Flour.  Wheat.  Corn.  Corn-meal. 

Barrels.  Bushels.  Bushels.  Barrels. 

Year  ending  June  30,  1848,  958,744  1,531,000  5,062,000  226,000 

“  Aug.  31,  1849,  1,114,016  4,684,000  12,721,000  88,000 

The  last  and  largest  amounts  in  round  numbers,  to  10,000,000  of  bushels 
of  wheat,  and  13,000,000  of  bushels  of  corn.  Deducting  the  transportation, 
the  product  of  this  on  the  farm  may  be  taken  at  not  exceeding,  and  pro¬ 
bably  not  equalling  $10,000,000,  or  less  than  fifty  cents  per  head  for  the 
people  of  the  Union.  What  is  the  prospect  that  even  this  amount  will  con¬ 
tinue  to  be  exported  may  be  judged  by  the  facts  that  nothing  but  the 
exceeding  lowness  of  freights  has  thus  far  maintained  the  export,  and  that 
calculations,  based  upon  the  low  price  of  food  in  Europe,  are  now  being 
made  upon  the  export  of  grain  to  this  country. 

“  The  accounts  that  have  reached  us  from  your  side  about  the  wheat  crop  have  led  to 
an  idea  here  that  it  is  not  improbable  the  United  States  may  become  an  importing  country 
for  grain,  as  on  some  previous  occasion  about  ten  or  twelve  years  ago.  We  regard  this 
as  highly  improbable  ourselves,  although  Sturges  allude  to  it  in  their  commercial  circular 
to-day.  It  is  said  Mark  Lane  governs  the  world's  grain  prices:  and,  if  so,  the  European 
range  may  certainly  be  expected  to  be  very  low,  for  the  fall  here  is  fully  5s.  to  6s.  per 
quarter,  one-sixth  of  the  entire  value,  within  the  last  month.  Oats  are  down  to  16s.  per 
quarter.” — London  Correspondent  of  the  National  Intelligencer. 

The  shipments  of  both  wheat  and  flour  have  already  fallen  off  in  a  most 
extraordinary  degree,  since  freights  have  somewhat  advanced.  In  Septem¬ 
ber,  flour  was  carried  to  Liverpool  for  6cfi  a  barrel,  and  sometimes  even 
less.  The  lapse  of  two  months  has  brought  the  charge  up  to  18 d.,  and  the 


*  Circular  of  Du  Fay  &  Co.,  March  1,  1848. 


54 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


effect  is  shown  in  the  following  statement  of  the  export  from  the  principal 
ports  of  the  Union  from  the  first  of  September  to  the  latter  part  of  Novem- 


her: — 

Flour. 

Meal. 

Wheat. 

Corn. 

Barrels. 

Barrels. 

Bushels. 

Bushels. 

1849 

118,000 

1,210 

212,504 

544,874 

Last  year,  same  period 

491,000 

27,754 

849,350 

3,447,820 

Decrease  . 

373,000 

26,544 

636,846 

2,902,946 

Notwithstanding  the  large  increase  of  agricultural  population,  the  quantity 
of  wheat  and  flour  received  at  tide-water,  on  the  Hudson,  shows  a  diminu¬ 
tion,  while  the  only  increase  is  that  of  about  2,000,000  of  bushels  of  corn, 
which  found  a  market  abroad  only  because  of  the  very  low  freights. 

The  import  of  men  has  made  a  market  for  $20,000,000  worth  of  food,  and 
these  people,  once  here,  remain  consumers  of  food,  and  customers  to  the 
farmer,  unless  compelled  to  become  producers  of  food  and  rivals  to  the 


farmer. 

The  “great  grain  market  of  the  world”  has  absorbed  half  as  much 
because  of  the  low  freights,  but  with  the  advance  of  freight  it  is  now 
diminishing,  and  must  still  further  diminish  with  the  continuance  of  that 
advance.  “Since  the  commencement  of  the  California  excitement,  near 
seven  hundred  vessels,”  we  are  told,*  “have  left  for  the  Pacific,  many  of 
which  will  never  re-visit  us.”  These  ships  will  not  be  replaced  unless 
freights  be  sufficiently  high  to  pay  their  owners.  If  immigration  go  on,  they 
will  be  soon  replaced,  and  the  cost  of  doing  it  will  be  paid  by  immigrants 
who  come  to  be  customers  to  the  farmer  and  planter.  If  it  do  not,  they  will 
not  be  replaced,  and  the  high  freights  of  the  remaining  ones  must  be  paid 
by  the  farmers  and  planters  seeking  customers  in  Europe. 

That  immigration  will  be  arrested,  must  be  obvious  to  all  who  study  the 
tables  given  in  the  third  chapter.  The  difficulty  of  obtaining  food,  fuel,  and 
clothing — i.  e.  wages — in  return  for  labour,  is  increasing.  The  value  of 
man  is  falling,  and  the  inducements  to  immigration  are  passing  away. 
Should  it  diminish  next  year  to  the  extent  of  100,000  persons,  there  will  be 
a  loss  of  market  to  the  extent  of  $7,000,000.  The  California  excitement 
which  carried  off  so  very  many  thousands  of  the  customers  of  the  farmer, 
with  food  to  feed  them  on  the  road,t  will  no  longer  exist.  Here  is  another 
hundred  thousand  customers  lost  to  the  farmer,  and  with  them  a  demand 
for  another  $7,000,000  worth  of  food.  The  European  market  is  being 
closed.  What,  then,  are  the  farmers’  prospects  at  this  moment? 

A  comparison  of  the  amount  of  immigration  and  the  prices  of  wheat 
during  the  last  few  years,  will  show  how  essentially  the  interests  of  the 
farmer  are  connected  with  every  operation  tending  to  bring  the  consumer 
to  take  his  place  by  the  side  of  the  producer : — 


Years. 

Immigration. 

1840 

84,000 

1841 

83,000 

1842 

101,000 

1843 

75,000 

1844 

74,000 

Price  of  Wheat  in  Philad. 

.  $1-00 
94 
M2 
75 
89 


Price  of  Flour  in  N.  Y. 
.  $5-25 

5-72 
5-74 
4-47 
4*70 


*  New  York  Herald. 

-j-  a  Your  receipts  of  beef  from  Missouri  will  be  very  moderate  this  winter,  in  conse¬ 
quence  of  the  great  demand  for  cattle  to  carry  emigrants  to  California.’' — Correspondent 
of  the  Tribune. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


55 


Years. 

Immigration. 

Price  of  Wheat  in 

Philad.  Price  of  Flour  in  N.  Y. 

1845 

102,000 

•  • 

86* 

.  .  4*52* 

1846 

.  147,000 

•  • 

104 

.  .  5-23 

1847 

.  234,000 

•  « 

,  1-33 

.  .  5*96  [potato  rot.] 

1848 

.  229,000 

•  • 

1*19 

.  about  5 '25 

1849 

• 

500 

If  we  convert  into  iron  delivered  back  upon  the  farm,  free  of  duty,  all 
the  food  that  has  been  this  year  exported,  we  shall  find  that  it  will  yield 
250,000  tons,  or  twenty-five  pounds  for  every  person  of  the  population.  Let  us 
now  go  to  the  vicinity  of  a  furnace,  and  see  how  light,  by  comparison,  is 
the  charge  for  iron  when  it  is  produced  on  the  spot,  and  paid  for  in  com¬ 
modities  of  which  the  earth  yields  by  tons,  as  potatoes  or  hay — or  in  straw 
that  would  otherwise  be  wasted — or  in  labour  not  required  on  the  farm,  and 
then  estimate  how  many  tons  might  have  been  obtained  by  the  producers  of 
this  grain,  had  they  made  a  market  on  the  land  for  the  products  of  the  land. 

Let  us  now  suppose  that  instead  of  closing  old  furnaces  we  had  built  fifty 
new  ones,  each  capable  of  making  5000  tons,  with  rolling-mills  to  convert 
the  product  into  bars,  and  had  thus  applied  the  labour  of  some  of  those  im¬ 
migrants  ;  and  that  we  were  now  making,  as  we  might  readily  be  doing, 
250,000  tons  of  iron  more  than  was  made  last  year,  would  not  that  alone 
have  made  a  permanent  market  on  the  land  for  as  much  of  the  products  of 
the  farmer  as  we  have  exported  to  England  ?  Would  not  that  have  reduced 
the  cost  of  iron  ?  Would  it  not  have  raised  the  price  of  labour?  Would  it 
not  have  promoted  immigration?  Would  it  not  have  promoted  the  building 
of  ships  and  the  reduction  of  freights?  Would  not  the  farmer  thus  have 
had  the  control  of  the  market  of  England  to  a  much  greater  extent  than  he 
can  have  under  a  system  that  discourages  immigration  and  ship-building? 
Does  not  his  power  to  go  abroad  increase  with  the  diminution  of  the  necessity 
for  seeking  a  market  abroad  ?  If  we  were  importing  largely  of  raw  silk 
and  men  from  Italy,  could  we  not  send  cotton  yarn  to  Italy  more  cheaply 
than  it  now  goes  through  England  ? — and  if  we  were  importing  silk  weavers 
from  France,  could  we  not  send  to  France  in  return  food,  in  the  form 
of  coalf  and  iron,  at  less  cost  for  freight  than  that  at  which  they  now  have 
English  coal  and  iron  that  must  pay  all  the  cost  of  the  voyage  out  and 
home  ?  The  greater  the  value  of  the  import  trade — and  men  are  the  most 
valuable  commodities  we  can  import — the  greater  will  be  the  variety  of 
articles  we  can  export. 

It  is  contended  that  by  having  two  markets  to  which  he  must  resort,  the 
condition  of  the  farmer  is  improved,  and  that  if  he  had  but  the  home-market 
he  would  have  lower  prices  than  at  present — that  is  to  say,  that  if  he  could 
sell  all  he  produces  at  home,  he  would  obtain  less  than  he  now  obtains  by 
going  from  home.  Directly  the  reverse  is  the  fact,  when  men  are  compelled 
to  seek  a  distant  market. 

The  first  questions  to  be  asked  in  reference  to  this  are — Why  is  he 
obliged  to  go  from  home  ?  Why  does  the  supply  of  food  increase  faster 
than  the  demand  ?  For  this  there  are  two  reasons.  First :  we  do  not 
import  consumers  enough  ;  and,  Second :  of  those  whom  we  do  import, 
too  many  are  forced  to  become  producers  of  food,  in  consequence  of  the 
difficulty  attendant  upon  employing  themselves  in  other  pursuits  when 
they  would  be  consumers  of  food.  The  man  who  works  in  a  coal  mine 
earns  $300  a  year,  and  perhaps  more.  Much  of  this  goes  for  food, 

*  Some  of  these  variations  are,  of  course,  attributable  to  the  extent  of  the  crop.  The 
yield  of  wheat  in  the  West  in  this  year  was  larger  than  in  any  since  1839. 

j-  Offers  have  been  made  to  transport  coal  to  France  at  little  more  than  the  ordinary 
freight  from  Philadelphia  to  Boston. 


56 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


and  all  of  it  goes  in  payment  for  things  that  are  the  product  of  the 
earth,  for  every  man  is  a  consumer  to  the  full  extent  of  his  production. 
Ten  thousand  miners  and  labourers  are  customers  for  those  products  to 
the  extent  of  $3,000,000.  Forty  thousand  mechanics,  miners,  and  ^ 
are  customers  to  the  farmer  and  planter  to  the  extent  of  $12,000,000, 
which  is  far  more  than  we  can  expect  to  export  in  future  years.  W  e 
now  import  annually  above  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  people,  and  there 
are  half  a  million  of  our  own  home-grown  population  annually  attaining 
maturity.  By  deducting  from  agriculture  20,000  working-men  we  dimmish 
the  number  of  producers,  and  by  employing  these  20,000  m  other  pursuits 
we  increase  the  number  of  consumers  to  such  an  extent  as  to  prevent  the  ex¬ 
istence  of  the  surplus  of  which  we  now  complain.  Judging,  however,  from 
the  past,  the  adoption  of  protection  as  a  permanent  system  would  result  m 
the  increase  of  immigration  to  a  vast  amount,  and  of  these  a  large  proportion 
would  gladly  remain  consumers  of  food,  whereas  under  the  present  system 

they  are  compelled  to  become  producers  of  food.  t  . 

When  farmers  have  a  demand  at  home  for  all  they  raise,  they  obtain  a 
higher  price  than  when  they  have  to  go  abroad.  In  the  one  case,  they  ob¬ 
tain  nearly  as  much  more  than  the  price  in  distant  markets  as  the  cost  ot 
transportation  from  those  markets,  whereas,  when  they  have  to  go  abroad, 
they  obtain  as  much  less  than  the  price  in  those  markets  as  the  cost  ot  trans¬ 
portation  to  those  markets,  and  the  price  of  the  whole  is  regulated  by  that 
which  can  be  obtained  for  the  trivial  surplus.  Gram  and  flour  htT^.[01is^v£ral 
years  been  higher  in  the  coal  region  of  Pennsylvania  than  in  Philadelphia, 
because  the  demand  has  been  always  in  excess  of  the  supply.  Close  the 
mines,  and  the  farmers  will  have  to  send  their  products  to  Philadelphia,  re¬ 
ceiving  therefor  the  city  prices,  minus  the  cost  of  transportation.  At  the 
present  time,  the  price  of  grain  throughout  the  Union  is  maintained  wholly 
by  the  domestic  market,  for  flour  sells  in  Liverpool  at  less  than  the  price  in 
New  York.  Close  the  mines  and  factories,  and  convert  miners  and  me¬ 
chanics  into  farmers,  and  the  price  at  home  must  be  the  Liverpool  one, 
which  will  then  be  lower  than  at  present,  minus  the  cost  of  transportation, 

which  will  then  be  higher  than  at  present.  t 

Admitting,  however,  that  we  are  to  have  at  all  future  times,  a  surplus  ot 
grain  for  export,  the  next  question  would  be — What  is  the  course  that  will 
secure  to  the  farmer  the  highest  price  in  foreign  markets  ?  The  answer 
must  assuredly  be,  that  it  will  be  that  which  tends  most  to  diminish  the 
quantity  to  be  sent  to  those  markets  from  this  or  other  countries.  If,  then, 
the  present  system  of  the  commerce  of  the  world  tends  to  increase  the 
supply,  it  must  be  adverse  to  the  interests  of  the -farmer.  "I  hat  such  is  the 

case  can,  I  think,  readily  be  shown.  .  ,  , 

We  know  that  the  more  miners  and  mechanics  we  have,  the  more  food  we 

consume ;  and  that  the  more  agriculturists  we  have,  the  more  food  we  pro¬ 
duce.  Such,  then,  must  be  the  case  with  other  countries.  We  know  that 
under  the  protective  system  miners  and  mechanics  increase  in  number,  and 
that  under  the  free-trade  system  the  producers  of  food  increase  m  number. 
Such,  then,  must  be  the  case  with  other  countries.  It  is  obviously,  then,  to 
our  interest  that  Russia  and  Germany  should  consume  more  food  and 
export  less,  and  that  if  they  and  we  should  do  so,  the  price  of  food  would 
rise  Russia  and  Germany,  and  we  ourselves,  have  established  the  pro¬ 
tective  system,  and  the  result  has  been  to  increase  the  consumers  and 
diminish  the  producers  ;  and  if  all  the  world  could  follow  our  example,  the 
supply  of  food  now  pouring  into  “the  great  gram  market  of  the  world 
would  be  so  far  diminished  that  the  price  would  rise.  This,  however,  is 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


57 


but  one  of  the  effects  that  would  result  from  a  general  determination  to  put 
down  the  colonial  system. 

We  have  seen  that  the  consumption  of  cotton  in  other  countries  is  small, 
while  here  it  is  large.  The  price  has  already  fallen  so  low  that  the  planters 
are  resorting  to  the  cultivation  of  wheat,  a  measure  that  must  tend  to  the 
injury  of  the  farmer.  Now,  if  we  were  consuming  one  half  more  cotton 
than  at  present,  this  state  of  things  could  not  exist.  The  price  obtainable 
by  the  planter  would  then  be  sufficiently  high  to  prevent  the  necessity  of 
abandoning  its  culture.  Let  us  now  suppose  that  Canada,  and  Russia,  and 
Germany,  and  Ireland,  could  make  a  market  for  their  now  surplus  labour,  and 
thereby  enable  themselves  to  consume  two  or  three  pounds  of  cotton,  where 
now  they  consume  but  one,  and  to  consume  more  food  than  now  they  do — is 
it  not  obvious  that  the  prices  of  food  and  cotton  would  both  rise  ?  That  such 
would  be  the  result  of  the  abolition  of  the  colonial  system,  as  regards  these 
countries,  appears  perfectly  certain.  If  so,  then  the  maintenance  and  ex¬ 
tension  of  the  protective  system,  with  special  reference  to  the  entire  abolition 
of  that  unnatural  one  which  Great  Britain  has  established,  appears  to  me  to  be, 
most  certainly,  to  the  interest  of  the  farmers  as  well  as  of  the  planters  of  the 
Union,  and  of  the  world. 

Let  us  next  examine  the  working  of  the  system  in  Canada,  in  which  there 
being,  almost  literally,  no  manufactures  of  any  kind,  there  is  no  market  on 
the  land  for  the  products  of  the  land. 

Freedom  of  trade  is,  there,  perfect :  that  is  to  say,  the  people  of  Great 
Britain  enjoy  a  complete  monopoly  of  the  machinery  by  aid  of  which  alone 
the  lumber  and  food  of  the  people  of  Canada  can  be  converted  into  cloth 
and  iron.  The  consequence  is,  that  the  labour-cost  of  manufactured  arti¬ 
cles  is  so  great  that  the  consumption  of  them  is  small.  The  whole 
export  of  cotton  cloth  from  Great  Britain  to  her  North  American  pos¬ 
sessions,  in  the  seven  years,  1840-46,  averaged  twenty  millions  of  yards, 
fine  and  coarse,  and  if  the  whole  were  there  consumed,  it  would  give  but  ten 
yards  per  head,  or  about  two  and  a  half  pounds  of  cotton  to  each  individual; 
whereas  the  consumption  of  the  Union  averages  thirteen  pounds  per  head, 
and  is  far  more  than  that  in  the  States  nearest  to  Canada.  If,  now,  we  desire 
to  know  why  it  is  that  consumption  is  less  on  the  one  side  of  the  line  than 
on  the  other,  the  reason  may  be  found  in  the  fact,  that  the  Canadian  gives 
much  more  labour  for  his  cloth  and  his  iron  than  the  American.  Even  his 
wheat  is  less  in  price ;  and  if  so,  how  must  it  be  with  those  bulky  com¬ 
modities  that  will  not  bear  transportation?  He  must,  in  the  words  of  Sir 
Francis  Plead,  “  eat  all  he  raises,”  for  he  has  not  made,  nor  can  he  make  a 
market  on  the  land  for  the  products  of  the  land. 

To  the  Canadians  it  is  perfectly  obvious  that  the  price  of  food  with  us  is 
maintained  by  the  demand  for  home  consumption,  and  therefore  it  is  that 
there  exists  so  universal  a  desire  for  the  abolition  of  all  restriction  in  the 
importation  of  their  productions  into  the  Union.  They  have  perfect  freedom 
of  trade  with  “the  great  grain  market  of  the  world,”  and  by  it  they  are  ruined. 
They  desire  intercourse  with  the  great  grain  -producers  of  the  world,  and  to 
obtain  it  they  would  gladly  sacrifice  their  intercourse  with  England,  taking 
production  in  lieu  of  free  trade,  and  becoming  members  of  the  Union. 

Were  Canada  within  the  Union,  her  consumption  of  cotton  would  rise  to 
a  level  with  our  own,  for  she  would  at  once  commence  to  make  iron  and  cloth 
at  home,  producing  thereby  a  demand  for  labour  that  is  now  being  wasted.  In¬ 
stead  of  being  a  customer  to  the  planter  to  the  extent  of  two  and  a  half  pounds 
per  head,  every  Canadian  would  take  a  dozen  pounds ;  and  thus  would  fifteen 
millions  of  pounds  be  added  to  the  consumption,  to  the  infinite  advantage  of  the 
planter.  The  farmer  of  Illinois  might  then  safely  admit  of  free  trade  with 


I 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


his  Canadian  neighbours,  because  with  increased  home  consumption  they 
would  experience  less  necessity  for  going  abroad  to  find  that  market  for  their 
products  which  the  colonial  system  now  denies  to  them  at  home.  The  farmer 
who  believes  in  the  advantage  of  free  trade  with  England,  should  give  his 
vote  for  the  free  admission  of  Canadian  wheat,  raised  by  men  who  consume 
cloth  and  iron  made  by  men  who  eat  the  wheat  of  Poland  and  Russia.  The 
farmer  who  sees  that  the  price  of  wheat  is  maintained  by  the  home  demand, 
will  be  cautious  of  the  admission  of  foreign  wheat,  duty  free,  until,  by  means 
of  annexation,  the  farmer  of  Canada  shall  obtain  the  same  protection  that  he 
himself  enjoys,  and  thereby  be  enabled  to  make  a  market  on  the  land  for  the 

products  of  the  land.  ,  ,  ' 

Having  thus  examined  the  effects  of  protection,  let  us  now  look  to  what 
would  be  the  effects  of  the  adoption  of  perfect  freedom  of  trade,  as  urged 
upon  the  world  by  England.  It  could  not  fail  to  be  that  of  rivetting  upon 
the  world  the  existing  monopoly  of  machinery  for  the  conversion  of  the 
products  of  the  farm  and  the  plantation  into  cloth  and  iron ,  closing  the  fac¬ 
tories  and  furnaces  of  Russia,  Germany,  and  the  United  States,  and  com¬ 
pelling  the  people  who  work  in  them  to  seek  other  modes  of  employ¬ 
ment,  and  the  only  resource  would  be  to  endeavour  to  raise  food.  There 
would  then  be  more  food  to  sell  ;  but  who  would  buy  it?  We  have 
already  seen  that  the  whole  exports  of  Great  Britain  amount,  after  paying 
for  the  grain  she  now  imports,  to  but  $4  32  per  head,  and  that,  small 
as  it  is,  it  tends  to  diminish.  With  that  she  has  to  pay  for  her  sugar, 
tea,  coffee,  cotton,  wool,  lumber,  and  all  other  foreign  articles  required 
for  her  own  consumption,  leaving  her  no  power  to  pay  for  more  grain. 
Nevertheless  it  would  be  poured  into  her  markets,  and  the  consequence  would 
be  that  she  would  obtain  three  bushels  where  now  she  has  but  one,  precisely 
as  we  have  seen  to  be  the  case  with  cotton.  “  Mark  Lane  governs  the  wond  s 
grain  prices,”  and  as  the  price  obtainable  for  the  surplus  would  fix  that  of 
the  crop,  the  result  would  be,  that  the  farmers  would  everywhere  be  ruined, 
and  this  with  no  benefit  to  the  manufacturers  of  England,  for  her  farmers 
would  likewise  be  ruined,  and  her  agricultural  labourers  would  be  dischaige  , 
as  is  now  the  case  with  Ireland,  whose  population,  deprived  of  employment  at 
home,  swarms  to  England,  and  destroys  the  power  of  the  English  labouier 
to  obtain  food,  even  at  its  present  low  prices — and  the  lower  they  fall,  the 
less  must  be  the  demand  for  labour,  and  the  less  the  power  to  obtain  wages. 

The  proverb  says,  “  put  not  too  many  eggs  in  one  basket.”  The  object 
of  the  British  system  is,  and  has  always  been,  that  of  compelling  the  woild 
to  put  all  the  eggs  in  the  same  basket;  and  the  natural  result  is  the  occur¬ 
rence  of  perpetual  convulsions,  producing  devastation  and  ruin  throughout 
the  world,  whenever  her  artificial  system  becomes  deranged.  A. re  view  ot 
her  operations,  during  the  past  thirty  years,  shows  her,  at  every  interval  of 
four  or  six  years,  holding  out  to  the  world  the  strongest  inducements  to  send 
her  all  they  could  spare  of  sugar,  and  coffee,  and  cotton,  and  agricultural 
produce  of  every  description.  About  the  close  of  the  second  yeai  of  this 
movement,  when  the  machinery  of  importation  had  got  into  full  operation, 
a  change  is  seen  to  have  “  come  over  the  face  of  the  dream,  and  the  whole 
energies  of  the  country  to  have  been  directed  to  breaking  down  prices,  with  a 
view  to  compel  exportation.  The  farmers  and  planters  whom  she  so  recently 
,  courted  are  now  ruined.  Their  agents  are  selected  as  the  first  victims,  and 
if  the  result  be  bankruptcy,  public  or  private,  it  is  followed  by  vituperation 
of  the  foulest  kind;  and  thus  is  insult  added  to  injury.  The  people  ot 
Pennsylvania  and  Maryland,  Indiana  and  Illinois,  Michigan  and  Mississippi, 
have  had  to  endure  all  this,  the  result  of  the  working  of  the  Compromise  tanfi 
of  1833.  In  1846,  the  whole  world  was  urged  to  send  food  at  any  price. 


i 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS 


59 


In  1847,  the  whole  object  was  to  depress  prices.  Rice  was  sold  for  the  mere 
freight  and  charges.  Large  shipments  of  corn  brought  the  shippers  in  debt 
for  the  payment  of  those  expenses.  The  fever  and  the  chill  having  passed 
away,  there  is  next  seen  to  succeed  a  period  of  languor :  then  one  of  moderate 
activity,  such  as  is  now  beginning  to  make  its  appearance.  Next,  specula¬ 
tion,  excitement,  and  large  imports,  to  be  followed  by  the  ruin  of  all  around, 
in  the  effort  to  save  herself.  At  the  present  moment,  she  takes  certificates 
of  debt  in  payment  for  iron,  as  was  the  case  ten  years  since;  but  the  day  is 
not  far  distant  when  these  certificates  will  have  to  be  redeemed  with  gold. 

Were  it  proposed  to  the  people  of  the  Union  to  make  New  York  or  Penn¬ 
sylvania  the  deposit  for  all  the  products  of  the  Union  that  required  to  be 
converted  or  exchanged,  the  absurdity  of  the  idea  would  be  obvious  to  every 
one.  The  wheat-grower  of  Michigan  would  find  himself  entirely  at  a  loss  to 
know  why  he  should  exchange  with  the  neighbouring  wool-grower  byway 
of  New  York;  and  the  cotton-grower  of  South  Carolina  would  be  equally  at 
a  loss  to  see  the  benefit  of  a  system  that  should  compel  him  to  exchange  with 
the  wheat-grower  of  Virginia,  through  the  medium  of  Philadelphia  or  Pitts¬ 
burgh  ;  yet  such  is  precisely  the  object  of  the  colonial  system.  The  wheat 
of  Michigan  travels  to  Liverpool  with  the  wool  of  Michigan,  and  the  exchanges 
between  the  wheat-grower  and  the  wool-grower  are  effected  through  the 
market  of  Leeds,  three-fourths  of  the  wool  and  the  wheat  being  lost  on  the 
road.  The  rice  of  South  Carolina  goes  to  Manchester  in  company  with  the 
cotton  of  South  Carolina ;  and  the  corn  and  the  cotton  of  Tennessee  cross 
the  ocean  together ;  and  this  long  journey  is  performed  under  the  idea  that  the 
planter  can  obtain  more  cloth  for  his  rice,  or  the  farmer  more  iron  for  his  corn, 
by  this  circuitous  mode  of  exchange  than  he  would  do  if  the  exchanges  were 
made  on  the  spot.  There  are  many  who  doubt  the  truth  of  this,  yet  all 
English  politico-economical  writers  assure  us  that  such  is  the  fact ;  and  every 
measure  now  adopted  by  the  British  Government  is  directed  towards  the 
maintenance  of  the  monopoly  of  machinery ,  by  aid  of  which  the  people  of 
the  world  have  been  compelled  to  make  their  exchanges  in  her  factories. 

If  such  a  course  would,  under  any  circumstances,  be  absurd,  how  much 
more  absurd  is  it  in  a  case  like  the  one  under  consideration,  where  the  power 
of  purchase  is  so  small,  and  so  little  capable  of  increase.  Whatever  goes  to 
England  must  be  there  consumed,  unless  it  can  be  forced  off  by  means  of 
low  prices;  and  for  what  she  consumes,  be  it  much  or  little,  she  has  $4-32 
per  head  of  her  population  to  distribute,  in  the  form  of  cloth  and  iron,  among 
the  farmers  and  planters  of  the  world.  It  is  a  Procrustean  bed,  and  the  mis¬ 
fortune  of  the  poor  farmers  and  planters  is,  that  whatever  she  cuts  off  from 
the  portion  sent  to  her  is,  as  a  consequence  of  the  system,  cut  off  from  all  the 
crop. 

The  producers  of  the  world  have  been,  and  they  are  now  being,  sacrificed 
to  the  exchangers  of  the  world  ;  and  therefore  it  is  that  agriculture  makes  so 
little  progress,  and  that  the  cultivators  of  the  earth,  producers  of  all  we  con¬ 
sume,  are  so  universally  poor,  and  so  generally  uninstructed  as  to  their  true 
interests.  The  day,  however,  cannot  be  far  distant  when  our  farmers  and 
planters,  at  least,  will  be  satisfied  that  their  interests  cannot  be  promoted 
by  a  system  that  separates  the  consumers  from  the  producers.,  and  renders 
cloth  and  iron  so  costly  as  to  cause  the  average  amount  of  the  consumption 
of  either  to  be  utterly  insignificant. 

The  object  of  protection  is  that  of  diminishing  the  distance  and  the  waste 
between  the  producer  and  the  consumer;  thereby  enabling  the  producer  to 
grow  rich,  and  to  become  a  large  consumer  of  cloth  and  iron.  That  it  did 
produce  that  effect  is  obvious  from  the  immense  increase  in  the  consumption 
of  both  in  the  period  between  1843  and  1847.  That  the  facility  of  obtaining 


60 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


iron  enabled  the  farmer  to  improve  his  mode  of  production  and  obtain  large 
returns  is  obvious  from  the  fact  that  the  supply  of  food  increased  so  rapidly. 
That  the  free-trade  system  produces  the  reverse  effect,  is  obvious  from  the 
great  reduction  in  the  consumption  of  iron  in  the  years  1842  and  1843,  and 
from  the  reduction  now  going  on;  the  whole  consumption  of  this  year 
not  equalling  that  of  1847,  notwithstanding  the  vast  increase  of  population. 

The  producers  of  food  throughout  the  world  have  one  common  interest, 
and  that  is  to  be  promoted  by  the  abolition  of  the  existing  monopoly  system , 
which  tends  to  destroy  themselves  and  their  customers. 

The  farmer  is  also  a  producer  of  wool ,  and  therefore  I  will  briefly  allude 

to  that  interest.  .  -  , 

If  we  desire  evidence  of  the  truth  of  what  has  been  said  in  relation  to  tood, 

it  may  be  found  in  the  condition  of  the  wool  market  for  several  years  past. 
Our  production  is  less  than  our  ordinary  consumption,  and  the  consequence 
is,  that  the  price  is  higher  than  in  any  country  of  the  world,  by  the  whole 
amount  of  the  cost  of  transportation.*  Close  the  woollen  mills,  and  the  price 
must  fall  to  the  level  of  the  markets  of  Europe,  minus  the  cost  of  exporta¬ 
tion.  The  increased  supply  then  would,  as  a  matter  of  course,  produce  a 
fall  of  prices,  and  then  the  sheep  grower  would  be  ruined. 

The  changes  of  policy  of  the  last  twenty  years  have  several  times  ruined 
the  woollen  manufacturers,  and  the  sheep  growers  have  as  often  extermi¬ 
nated  their  flocks ;  the  consequence  of  which  is,  that  we  have  less  than 
30,000,000,  when,  if  the  policy  adopted  in  18^8  had  been  maintained,  we 
should’ now  have  100,000,000,  and  a  market  for  their  whole  products  at 
hio-her  prices  than  now ;  for  the  prosperous  labourers,  miners  and  mechanics, 
cotton-growers  and  food-growers,  would  then  consume  six  pounds  where 
now  they  consume  but  three,  and  the  number  of  our  population  would  be 
greater  by  7,000,000  than  at  present.  The  discord  that  now  exists  is  the 
result  of  the  “war  upon  the  labour  and  capital  of  the  world”  maintained  by 
England,  and  when  peace  shall  have  been  restored  by  the  abolition  of  the 
monopoly,  it  will  be  found  that,  between  the  interests  of  the  sheep-grower,  the 
producer  of  food,  the  miner  and  the  mechanic,  there  is  perfect  harmony. 

CHAPTER  ELEVENTH. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  THE  PLANTER. 

Having  thus  shown  how  the  English,  or  colonial,  system  operates  upon 
the  farmers  of  England  and  of  the  world  at  large,  I  propose  now  to  examine 
how  it  operates  upon  the  planters. 

Of  all  the  products  of  the  earth,  cotton  is  that  which  is  best  fitted  for 
clothing  purposes,  and  that  which  would  be  most  universally  used 
were  it  accessible  to  those  who  desired  to  use  it,  which  it  is  not.  There 
are  few  commodities  that  can  be  more  easily  raised,  none  that  can  be  con¬ 
verted  into  clothing  at  less  cost  of  labour,  and  yet,  so  defective  are  the 
arrangements  for  its  distribution,  that  by  the  time  it  reaches  the  consumer 
it  has" become  so  costly  that  its  consumption  is  almost  nothing. 

The  whole  quantity  of  cotton  raised  is  probably  1,500,000,000  pounds, 
being  about  one  and  a  half  pounds  for  each  person  composing  the  popula¬ 
tion  of  the  world ;  yet,  notwithstanding  the  exceeding  smallness  of  this  quan¬ 
tity,  the  power  of  consumption  throughout  the  world  is  so  small  that  the 


*  Much  of  the  wool  that  was  sent  to  Europe  was  returned,  the  price  abroad  being  less 
than  the  price  at  home  by  more  than  the  cost  of  transportation.  Such  will  be  the  case 
with  food  when  the  farmer  shall  make  a  market  on  the  land  for  all  the  products  of  the 

land. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


61 


/ 


producers  are  contending  with  each  other  for  the  possession  of  the  markets : 
and  the  competition  is  so  great  that  whenever  the  crop  of  this  country  reaches 
1000,000,000  pounds,  it  is  sold  at  a  price  less  than  the  actual  cost  of  pro¬ 
duction.  Some  of  the  countries  that  formerly  exported  it  to  a  considerable 
extent,  now  raise  little  more  than  is  needed  for  their  own  small  consumption  ; 
and  even  here  the  question  of  limiting  the  quantity,  as  the  only  way  to 
avoid  ruin,  has  been  the  subject  of  anxious  discussion.  Throughout  the 
South,  planters  are  turning  their  attention  to  food,  although  the  market 
for  every  description  of  food  is,  and  must  continue  to  be,  glutted,  unless 
we  have  a  change  of  policy. 

There  is  a  perpetual  complaint  of  over-production,  and  it  is  matter  of 
rejoicing  when,  by  reason  of  short  seasons,  or  any  other  occurrence,  the  crop 
is  diminished  200,000  or  300,000  bales,  the  balance  producing  more  in  the 
market  of  the  world  than  could  otherwise  have  been  obtained  for  the  whole. 
No  better  evidence  need  be  desired  that  there  exists  some  error  in  the  dis¬ 
tribution. 

Over-production  cannot  exist,  but  under-consumption  may  and  does  exist. 
The  more  that  is  produced,  the  more  there  is  to  be  consumed ;  and  as  every 
man  is  a  consumer  in  the  exact  ratio  of  his  production,  the  more  he  can 
produce  the  better  it  will  be  for  himself  and  his  neighbour,  unless  there 
exist  some  disturbing  cause,  preventing  the  various  persons  desiring  to  con¬ 
sume  from  producing  what  is  needed  to  enable  them  to  effect  their  exchanges 
with  the  planter,  to  the  extent  that  is  necessary  to  their  comfort. 

In  examining  into  the  movements  of  the  cotton  trade  of  the  world,  I  may 
sometimes  have  occasion  to  refer  to  facts  already  given ;  and  if  I  prefer  to 
re-state  them,  it  is  because,  from  the  great  importance  of  a  proper  understand¬ 
ing  of  the  subject,  I  deem  it  best  to  collect  all  the  facts  necessary  to  that 
end  under  one  head. 

The  two  great  cotton-producers  of  the  world  are  India  and  the  United 
States.  The  former  has  long  exported  to  distant  markets  food  and  cotton, 
indigo  and  saltpetre,  bulky  articles,  the  freight  and  charges  upon  which  absorb 
nearly  the  whole  product,  and,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  the  condition  of 
the  people  has  steadily  deteriorated.  The  difficulty  of  obtaining  food  has 
steadily  increased  as  her  manufactures  have  declined,  and  repeated  famines 
and  pestilences  have  swept  off  millions,  thus  diminishing  the  power  of  com¬ 
bination  ;  and  she  now  therefore  exports  men  to  occupy  the  places  recently  oc¬ 
cupied  by  the  slaves  of  Jamaica,  Guiana,  Demarara,  and  other  of  the  West 
India  colonies.  With  each  such  step,  the  cotton  culture  recedes  from  the  low 
and  rich  lands  towards  the  higher  and  poorer  ones,  and  the  condition  of  the 
cultivator  deteriorates,  for  with  each  a  larger  proportion  of  his  product  is 
swallowed  up  in  the  cost  of  transportation. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  present  century,  the  manufacturers  of  India  sup¬ 
plied  cotton  goods  to  a  large  portion  of  the  world.  Englandffiad  then,  how¬ 
ever,  invented  machinery  for  its  production,  and  to  secure  herself  in  its  ex¬ 
clusive  use  she  had  prohibited  its  export,  as  well  as  that  of  artisans,  and  thus 
she  compelled  the  cotton  to  come  to  the  loom,  instead  of  permitting  the  loom 
to  go  to  the  cotton.  By  degrees  she  cut  off  the  foreign  market  of  the  manu¬ 
facturer,  but  his  home  market  still  remained  to  him,  so  long  as  the  Company 
retained  the  exclusive  control  of  the  trade.  In  1821,  the  last  year  of  the 
monopoly,  the  export  from  England  to  India  was  but  5,000,000  of  yards, 
and  4,000,000  of  pounds  of  yarn.  In  1832,  it  had  reached  60,000,000.  In 
the  first  half  of  last  year  it  was  110,000,000  of  yards,  and  10,000,000 
of  pounds  of  yarn.  Large  as  are  these  figures,  they  require  but  little  more 
than  100,000  bales  for  their  production,  and  woujd  make  a  consumption  of 
perhaps  220,000  bales  per  annum,  to  take  the  place  of  that  which  has 


62 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


ceased  to  be  raised.  Wdtb.  every  step  in  the  increase  of  importation, 
production  has  diminished.  The  culture  and  the  manufacture  both  have 
disappeared  from  the  rich  lands  of  Bengal.  The  fields  formerly  occupied 
by  this  most  useful  plant  have  relapsed  into  jungle,  and  if  we  now  desire  to 
find  the  poor  cotton  planter  we  must  seek  him  among  the  hills,  where  he 
obtains  small  crops  in  return  for  much  labour,  and  then  spends  months 
in  the  work  of  transportation  to  the  Ganges,  where  his  miserable  product  is 
shipped  to  Calcutta  on  its  way  to  England,  to  return  to  him  at  the  close 
perhaps  of  the  second  year,  giving  him  a  few  yards  of  poor  cloth,  a  com¬ 
bination  of  cotton  and  flour,  in  return  for  the  cultivation  of  an  acre  of  land.* 

Under  this  system  the  value  of  labour  diminishes  steadily  and  regularly, 
and  with  it  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  cotton  produced,!  yet  Englishmen 
are  accustomed  to  regard  the  low  price  of  labour  as  one  of  the  elements  of 
cheap  production,  and  to  look  to  it  as  affording  good  reason  to  hope  for  large 
supplies  in  future.  Thus  Mr.  Porter  informs  us  that  :  — 

« in  the  level  plains  of  Candeish,  and  in  many  other  parts  of  Hindostan,  cotton  wool, 
freed  from  the  seed,  could  be  sold  with  a  profit  to  the  cultivators,  at  one  penny  per 
pound,  a  cost  which  is  trebled  or  quadrupled  by  the  expense  of  conveyance  to  the  ports 
of  shipment.” — Porter's  Progress  of  the  Nation.. 

The  price  which  remains  to  the  cultivator  is  one  penny  per  pound,  but 
where  “the  profit”  is  to  be  found  when  thd  whole  wages  consist  in  an  in¬ 
sufficient  supply  of  the  poorest  food  and  clothing,  followed  by  famine  and 
pestilence  in  every  case  of  failure  of  crops,  it  is  difficult  to  imagine.  Such, 
however,  is  the  usual  mode  of  treating  this  subject  in  England. £  The  moie 


*  The  produce  of  the  great  cotton-growing  districts  on  the  Nerbudda  is  carried  on  oxen, 
each  taking  one  hundred  and  sixty  pounds,  at  the  extreme  rate,  in  fair  weather,  of  seven 
miles  a  day.  The  distance  to  Mirzapore,  on  the  Ganges,  is  five  hundred  miles,  and  the 
cost  is  two  and  a  half  pence,  or  five  cents,  per  pound.  Thence  it  goes  to  Calcutta,  a  dis¬ 
tance  of  eight  hundred  miles,  by  water,  unaided,  I  believe,  by  steam.  From  another 
portion  of  the  cotton-growing  districts,  in  the  Deccan,  the  transport  occupies  a  continuous 
journey  of  two  months,  and  in  the  rainy  season  the  road  is  impassable  and  the  traffic  of 
the  country  is  at  a  stand.'  In  the  absence  of  even  a  defined  road,  the  carriers,  with  their  pack 
cattle  are  compelled  to  travel  by  daylight  to  prevent  the  loss  of  their  bullocks  in  die 
jungles  through  which  they  have  to  pass,  and  this  under  a  burning  sun  of  from  one  hun¬ 
dred  to  one  hundred  and  forty  degrees.  If  the  horde,  sometimes  amounting  to  a  thousand, 
is  overtaken  by  rain,  the  cotton,  saturated  with  moisture,  becomes  heavy,  and  the  black 
clayey  soil,  through  which  lies  the  wlioleline  of  road ,  sinks  under  the  feet  of  a  man  above  the 
ankle,  and  under  that  of  a  laden  ox  to  the  knees:  and  in  this  predicament  the  caigo  lies 
sometimes  for  weeks  on  the  ground,  and  the  merchant  is  ruined!  “Black  clayey  soils,  ’ 
rich  and  fertile,  are  here  superabundant,  but  the  poor  wretch  who  raises  die  cotton  must 
cultivate  the  high  lands  that  require  neither  clearing  nor  drainage,  and  his  masters  take 
half  the  product  of  their  poor  soils  while  refusing  even  to  make  a  road  through  the  rich 
ones :  yet  forcing  him  to  send  his  cotton  to  market  to  be  exchanged  for  cotton  cloth 
manufactured  thousands  of  miles  distant.  A  system  better  calculated  to  compel  men  to 
continue  cultivating  the  poorest  soils,  by  aid  of  sticks,  could  not  be  devised. 

-J-  Import  of  cotton  from  India  into  England  : — 

1844  . 

1845  ..... 

1S46 

Total  export  of  all  India  to  ali  parts  of  the  world 

1S35-36  .... 

1836-37  .... 

1844- 45  .... 

1845- 46  .... 

1846,  8  months 


88,000,000  lbs. 
58,000,000  “ 
34,000,000  “ 

1,305,000  cwts. 
1,557,000  “ 
1,623,000  “ 
1,328,000  “ 
600,000  “ 


4  A  series  of  popular  lectures  on  the  cotton  manufacture  has  recently  been  delivered 
in  London,  by  Mr.  Warren,  of  Manchester.  In  his  first  lecture  he  stated  that  should  the 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


63 


unproductive  labour  can  be  made  the  lower  will  be  its  price,  the  more  con¬ 
fident  will  be  the  hope  of  using  it  to  advantage,  and  the  larger  will  be  the  sums 
expended  in  an  effort  that  must  prove  for  ever  vain,  while  the  people  shall  con¬ 
tinue  to  be  prevented  from  consuming  on  the  land  the  products  of  the  land.* 

The  deterioration  of  quality  is  due  to  the  recession  of  cultivation  from  the 
lower  and  richer  lands;  and  that  recession  is  a  consequence  of  the  system 
that  has  ruined  the  manufacturers  of  India,  and  destroyed  the  power  of 
combination  of  action.  We  know  the  superiority  of  the  sea-island  cotton. 
In  Demarara,  cotton  plantations  have  always  succeeded  better  on  the  sea- 
coast  than  in  the  interior.  So  was  it  in  India.  Salt  manure  is  deemed  to 
be  of  absolute  necessity  if  superior  quality  be  desired,  as  it  gives  a  staple  at 
once  strong  and  silky.  Such  being  the  case,  it  is  useless  to  attempt  im¬ 
provement,  when  day  by  day  the  cultivation  recedes  from  the  neighbour¬ 
hood  of  the  sea,  producing  in  England  a  strong  desire  for  the  making  of 
railroads  by  which  it  may  be  enabled  to  make  its  way  from  the  hills  without 
costing  more  labour  for  its  transportation  than  had  been  required  for  its  pro¬ 
duction.  Every  such  effort  must  prove  a  failure.  Free  trade  with  England 
drove  it  to  the  hills.  Freer  trade  will  drive  it  to  hills  yet  more  distant. 
In  some  cases  it  is  thought  that  if  the  poor  people  could  be  provided  with 
carts,  they  could  extend  the  culture  with  advantage,  but  the  use  of  such 
vehicles  supposes  the  previous  possession  of  something  like  laid-out  roads, 
and  those  are  luxuries  with  which  most  of  India  is  yet  unprovided. 

Like  the  people  of  India,  those  of  the  Southern  States  of  the  Union  have, 
thus  far,  had  a  bulky  outward  trade,  that  had,  of  course,  to  bear  all  the  ex¬ 
penses  of  the  voyage  out  and  home.  For  a  time,  this  prospered.  India  was 
distant  from  the  machinery  of  conversion  and  Carolina  was  near,  and  while 
it  still  continued  necessary  to  resort  to  the  former  for  supplies,  the  price  of 
that  raised  in  the  latter  was  the  price  in  India,  plus  the  difference  of 
transportation.  England  was  a  sort  of  home  market  in  which  the  planter 
obtained  twenty  or  thirty  cents  per  pound.  By  degrees,  however,  the  near 
supply  rose  above  the  near  demand,  and  it  became  necessary  to  seek  for 


manufacturing  population  of  that  country  increase  during  the  next  ten  years  in  the  ratio 
in  which  it  has  done  during  the  last,  it  will  become  necessary,  in  order  to  employ  them,  to 
secure  a  permanent  and  cheap  supply  of  cotton.  This  can  be  done,  he  thinks,  by  culti¬ 
vating  it  in  British  India,  where,  on  the  authority  of  Major-general  Briggs,  Sir  Charles 
Forbes,  and  others,  there  can  be  produced  a  supply  sufficient  for  the  wants  of  the  entire 
world,  equal  in  quality  to  the  article  supplied  from  New  Orleans,  and  cheaper  than  it  by 
one-half.  He  states  the  wages  of  American  slave  labour  to  be  equal  to  about  Is.  Qd.  per 
day,  while  that  of  the  free  Hindoo  is  only  about  two  pence.  The  advantages  to  be  derived 
from  such  a  course,  he  stated  to  be  the  certainty  of  a  good  and  adequate  supply  at  a  cheap 
rate,  the  consolidation  of  our  Indian  possessions  by  the  means  of  commerce,  and  the  eman¬ 
cipation  of  the  American  slaves,  by  rendering  their  labour  profitless  to  the  owners. 

*  The  “  London  Chronicle/’  of  a  late  date,  has  an  article  showing  that  the  efforts  which 
have  been  put  forth  during  the  last  few  years  to  make  India  a  cotton-growing  country 
that  might  rival  the  United  States  have  entirely  failed.  It  notices  the  failure  and  aban¬ 
donment  of  the  experiments  in  cotton  cultivation  that  have  been  carried  on,  under  Dr. 
Wight’s  superintendence,  at  Madras.  This  enterprise,  which  had  for  its  object  the  pro¬ 
duction  of  an  article  less  palpably  inferior  to  the  cotton  of  America  than  the  present  badly- 
picked  and  indifferent  Indian  commodity,  was  zealously,  and  even  lavishly,  supported  by 
the  local  government;  but  the  late  failure  of  a  similar  experiment  in  Bengal,  after  an 
outlay  of  about  £100,000,  had  already  given  fair  warning  of  the  probable  issue  of  Dr. 
Wight's  efforts  in  the  sister  presidency,  and  with  its  abandonment  would  seem  to  settle 
the  question  that  India  will  not  again  become,  as  it  once  was,  a  great  cotton-growing 
country.  In  1796  America  did  not  export  a  single  jround.  In  1834  she  exported  as  much 
as  all  the  rest  of  the  world  put  together.  And  in  1846,  out  of  467.856,274  lbs.  imported 
into  this  country,  401,949,893  lbs.  came  from  the  United  States,  while  only  34,556,143 
were  supplied  by  the  East  Indies  and  Ceylon  !  The  total  value  supplied  from  India  in 
1845  did  not  exceed  £600,000. 


64 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


markets  for  cloth  and  yarn  in  India  and  China,  in  which  the  price  realized 
by  the  producer  could  not  exceed  that  at  which  it  could  there  be  sold,  minus 
the  difference  of  transportation.  The  necessary  effect  of  this  was  to  diminish 
the  productiveness  of  Indian  labour,  and  the  power  to  consume  cotton,  and  of 
course  to  increase  the  quantity  to  be  forced  upon  the  world,  and  with  every 
step  in  course  of  this  operation,  there  has  been  increased  competition  on  the 
part  of  the  American  grower;  the  result  of  which  is,  that  the  Indian  pro¬ 
ducer  is  ruined,  and  the  American  one  is  saved  from  ruin  only  by  destructive 
operations  of  nature,  frosts,  freshets,  and  crevasses,  by  aid  of  which  the 
supply  is  retained  within  the  limits  of  demand. 

The  average  consumption  of  this  country  is  not  less  than  thirteen,  and  is, 
most  probably,  fifteen  pounds  per  head ;  and  it  is  less,  by  at  least  one-half, 
than  it  would  be  but  for  the  heavy  cost,  in  labour,  to  the  consumer.  The 
average  consumption  of  the  world,  outside  of  the  Union,  is  little  more  than 
one  pound  per  head,  or  about  one-thirtieth  of  what  it  ought  to  be ;  and 
yet  cotton  has  become  almost  the  weed  of  the  world,  and  men  are  every¬ 
where  desiring  to  substitute  in  its  place  something  that  could  be  better  grown 
elsewhere.  On  the  high  lands  they  substitute  wheat,  which  would  grow 
better  farther  north.  On  the  low  lands  they  raise  sugar,  which  would  be 
much  more  productive  farther  south.  Here  are  serious  discords,  and  it  is 
important  that  we  trace  the  cause  of  their  existence,  with  a  view  to  provide  a 
remedy  for  a  state  of  things  so  unnatural. 

With  a  view  that  we  may  do  so,  I  give  the  following 


SUMMARY  STATEMENT  OP  CROPS,  CONSUMPTION,  &c.,  OF  AMERICAN  COTTON,  FOR  TWELVE 

YEARS* 


Total  am’t. 

Crops,  as 

Consumed 

Stock  at 

Imports  of  American 

of  Ameri- 

Stock  of 

Average 

shown  by 

in  the 

the  ports 

Cotton  into  Great 

can  Cotton 

Am.  Cot- 

quot.  of 

receipts  the 

U.  States, 

end  of  the 

Britain,  from  1st  Jan. 

consumed 

ton  in  Gt. 

Uplands 

31st  Aug. 

year  end’s 

year 

to  31st  Dec. 

in  Great 

Britain, 

in  Liver- 

31st  Aug. 

31st  Aug. 

Britain. 

Dec.  31. 

pool. 

1886—7 

1,422,930 

222,540 

109,036 

1837 

844,812 

778,492 

158,100 

7  d. 

1837—8 

1,801,497 

246,063 

68,961 

1838 

1,124,800 

913,328 

316,100 

7 

1838—9 

1,360,532 

276,018 

69,963 

1839 

814,500 

813,488 

242,300 

71. 

1839-40 

2,177,835 

295,193 

78,780 

1840 

1,237,500 

1,018,784 

403,000 

6 

1840—1 

1,631,945 

297,288 

72,479 

1841 

902,500 

809,900 

344,600 

1841—2 

1,684,211 

267,850 

31,807 

1842 

1,013,400 

893,256 

373,400 

5| 

1842—3 

2,379,460 

325,129 

94,486 

1843 

1,396,800 

1,110,046 

593,200 

4f 

1843—4 

2,030,409 

348,744 

159,772 

1844 

1,246,900 

1,126,008 

654,900 

H 

1844—5 

2,415,448 

389,006 

98,420 

1845 

1,499,600 

1,289,808 

809,100 

f4f 

1845—6 

2,100,537 

422,597 

107,122 

1846 

937,000 

1,280,096 

867,516 

397,800 

H 

1846—7 

1,778,651 

427,967 

214,837 

1847 

874,100 

286,200 

6f 

1847—8 

2,347,634 

531,772 

171,468 

1848 

1,375,400 

1,189,500 

348,300 

4* 

The  stock  in  our  own  ports,  Aug.  31,  1836,  appears  to  have  been, 
That  of  American  cotton  in  English  ports,  - 

The  crops  of  the  twelve  years,  from  1836-7  to  1847-8,  were 
To  which  must  be  added,  for  the  additional  consumption  in  the 
South  and  West,  in  the  last  two  years,  -  *  - 

Total, 

The  stock  in  port,  and  in  G.  B.  at  the  close  of  the  season  1847-8, 

Consumption  of  twelve  years, 

Thus  divided— English,  -  12,100,000 

American,  -  -  4,052,000 

Additional,  as  above,  125,000 

-  4,177,000 

Leaving  for  the  rest  of  the  world,  7,098,000 


109,000 

90.000J 

23,571,000 

125,000 

23,805,000 

520,000 

23,375,000 


23,375,000 


*  From  the  New  York  Courier  and  Inquirer. 

j-  Duty,  j^d.  per  lb.  taken  off  by  Act  of  Parliament,  passed  8th  May,  1845. 
f  The  imports  of  1837  exceeded  the  consumption  by  66,000  bales,  and  the  stock,  at  the 
close  of  the  year,  was  158,000,  from  which,  if  we  deduct  the  66,000,  there  remain  92,000. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS.' 


65 


Average  of  the  first  Two  Years. 
English,  .  .  846,000 

American,  .  235,000 

All  other,  .  .  444,000 


Total  Average. 
1,008,000 
348,000 
591,000 


Average  of  last  Two  Years. 
1,028,000 
542,000 
548,000* 


1,525,000 


1,947,000 


2,118,000  * 


From  this  we  see  that  the  average  consumption  of  the  twelve  years  ex' 
ceeded  that  of  the  first  two,  in  the  following  ratio : — 


English, . 18  per  cent. 

American, . 50  “  “ 

All  other,  ....  22  “  “ 

But  when  we  compare  the  first  and  last  two  years  of  the  period,  we  ob¬ 
tain  the  following  results : — 


English, . 21  per  cent. 

American, . 125  “  “ 

All  other, .  23  “  “ 

The  portion  of  Europe  that  has  most  fully  adopted  the  system  of  protec¬ 
tion  being  the  Zoll-verein, t  it  will  be  useful  to  compare  the  growth  in  their 
consumption  with  that  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 

The  imports  of  raw  cotton  into  Prussia  before  the  formation  of  the  Tariff- 
league  or  Zoll-verein ,  remained  from  1827  to  1835  stationary  at  44,000 
cwts.  per  annum.J  That  of  yarn  increased  from  1823  to  1835,  from  61,000 
to  115,000  cwts.  The  total  increase  of  twelve  years,  was  from  105  to 
159,000  cwts.,  or  from  30  to  45,000  bales.  The  following  shows  the  growth 
from  that  period  in  the  territories  of  the  confederation : — 

Average  from 

1836.  1837  to  1841.  1843.  1845. 

Raw  cotton,  quintals  .  .  152,364  200,093  306,731  443,887 

Cotton  twist  and  wadding,  do.  .  244,869  351,884  475,564  574,303 


397,233  551,977  782,295  1,018,190 

The  quantity  has  more  than  doubled,  and  the  home  consumption  has 
increased  about  75  per  cent.§  in  a  period  during  most  part  of  which 
our  own  consumption  had  remained  stationary.il  The  quantity  of  twist 
and  wadding  imported  from  Great  Britain  had  increased  135  per  cent, 
in  a  shorter  period  than  was  required  in  the  latter  for  an  increase  in 
her  home  and  foreign  consumption  of  only  21  per  cent.  The  power  to 
import  thus  grew  with  the  power  of  production.  It  is  obvious  that  the  con¬ 
sumption  tends,  and  must  tend,  to  increase  most  rapidly  where  there  is 
the  least  intervention  between  the  producer  and  the  consumer,  and  equally 
so  that  the  English  demand,  based  upon  the  principle  of  intervention  between 
the  two,  and  consequent  increase  of  cost  to  the  consumer,  cannot  be  largely 
and  permanently  increased.  That  of  1846-7  was  less  than  that  of  1837-8, 
and  the  difference  between  that  of  1839-40  and  that  of  1847-8,  great  as 
was  the  fall  of  prices,  was  but  171,000  bales. 

The  great  increase  in  the  consumption  of  the  Zoll-verein  is  due  to  pro- 


*  This  period  embraces  a  season  of  war  and  convulsion  over  the  whole  continent. 

•f  De  Bow’s  Commercial  Review,  Vol.  V.  p.  267. 

$  Merchants’  Magazine,  Vol.  XIII.  p.  286.  §  Ibid. 

||  The  increase  of  consumption  after  the  formation  of  the  Union  was  very  rapid.  As 
early  as  1S38,  it  was  said,  that  ‘-The  cotton  manufacture  of  Saxony  had  already  become 
of  twice  the  extent  it  had  reached  before  the  Union.” — Porter' s  Progress  of  the  Nation , 
Vol.  II.  p.  198.  The  quantity  of  cotton  hosiery  made  in  Saxony  has  increased  immensely 
of  late,  and  from  its  cheapness  has  not  only  secured  the  monopoly  of  the  markets  of  the 
Union,  but  has  also  been  shipped  largely  to  the  United  States. 


66 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


tection.  If,  now,  from  the  additional  British  consumption  we  deduct  the 
additional  yarn  sent  to  this  one  protected  country,  we  shall  be  enabied  to 
see  how  trivial  is  the  power  of  increase  in  the  unprotected  world.  Ihe 
account  will  then  stand  thus  :• 


English 

Zoll-verein  (1836) 
American 
All  other 


First  two  years. 
846,000 
100,000 
235,000 
344,000 


Last  two  years. 
958,000* 
230,000* 
542,000 
378,000 


Ratio  of  increase. 

13  per  cent. 
130  « 

125  « 

10  “ 


$53,000,000 

48,000,000 


In  the  one  case  England  took  846,000  at  7 d.,  total 

In  the  other,  958,000  at  5 id.  .  .  •  •  • . 

In  both,  the  price  was  fixed  in  her  own  ports,  and  regulated 
by  her  own  power  of  purchase.  Had  our  home  consumption 
absorbed  200,000  additional  bales,  thus  reducing  the  supply  to 
750,000,  the  price  would  have  been  8 d.  and  the  amount  would  00Q 

have  been  .  .  •  •  •  •  *  *  *  .  v ’  ’ 

and  the  product  of  the  whole  crop  would  have  been  almost  doubled.  _ 

The  consequence  of  this  incapacity  of  extending  her  foreign  market  is, 
of  course,  the  accumulation  of  large  quantities  in  English  ports,  accompanied 
by  a  fall  of  prices,  by  aid  of  which  the  English  consumer  obtains  a  larger 
quantity  for  the  labour  that  he  can  afford  to  give  m  exchange  for  the  mate¬ 
rials  of  clothing,  and  that  tends  to  decrease  as  his  labour  becomes  more 
unproductive,  and  as  the  disposition  to  “  fly  from  ills  they  know  increases. 
This  will  be  seen  by  the  following  table : — 

British  and  Irish  consumption. 

Quantity. 

73,000,000  pounds 
172,000,000  “ 

97,000,000 
97,000,000 
120,000,000 
124,000,000 
164,000,000 
147,000,000 
77,000,000 
130,000,000 


Drop. 

1839— 1, 

1840— 2, 

1841— 1, 

1842— 1, 

1843— 2, 

1844— 2, 

1845— 2, 

1846— 2, 

1847— 1, 

1848— 2, 


Bales. 

368,000 

180,000 

634,000 

684,000 

388,000 

030,000 

100,000 

101,000 

778,000 

347,000 


Average  price. 


1,961,000 


14-5  cents. 

8*6 

a 

10-3 

a 

8-2 

u 

6 

a 

81 

ii 

5-9 

a 

7-3 

ii 

10-1 

ii 

7 

ii 

8-6 

ii 

a 

a 

a 

a 

a 

a 

a 

a 


Value, 

$10,585,000 

14,620,000 

9,991,000 

7,954,000 

7,200,000 

10,116,000 

9,696,000 

10,731,000 

7,777,000 

9,100,000 


1,201,000,000 


a 


9,777,000 


The  total  home  consumption  by  the  27,500,000  composing  the  population 
of  the  United  Kingdom,  was  thus  but  1,200,000,000  pounds,  or  an  average 
of  120,000,000  per  annum,  giving  4£  pounds  to  each  individual,  supp  1  i 
at  a  cost  so  low  as  to  ruin  the  producer.  The  average  of  thirst  two  years 
was  122,500,000,  while  that  of  the  last  two  years  was  but  102,500,0UU,  not¬ 
withstanding  an  increase  of  population  that  should  have  brought  it  up  to 

From 5  this  statement  it  appears  clearly  that  the  power  of  the  people  °f 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  to  be  customers  to  the  cotton  planters  of  the  world, 
cannot  go  much  beyond  $10,000,000;  and  that,  instead  of  increasing  with 
the  population,  it  tends  decidedly  to  diminish.  The  reason  of  this  appears 
to  me  obvious.  The  people  of  England  are  perpetually  engaged  in  the 
effort  to  sell  the  products  of  their  labour  in  distant  markets,  in  competition  with 
low-priced  labour,  and  therefore  at  the  lowest  price;  receiving  PaYment^ 
food  and  other  articles  of  consumption  produced  in  distant  markets,  which 
come  to  them  burdened  with  enormous  cost  of  transportation,  and  there  or 

*  l  have  deducted  and  added  only  70,000  bales,  supposing  the  last  two  years’  export 
not  to  have  been  as  great  as  that  of  1845. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


67 


obtained  at  the  cost  of  much  labour.  The  natural  growth  of  production 
elsewhere  tends  to  increase  the  supply  of  raw  materials,  but  the  power  to  pay 
for  them  does  not  increase,  because  the  labour  of  British  subjects,  home  and 
colonial,  instead  of  becoming  more  productive  of  commodities  to  be  given  in 
exchange,  is  becoming  less  so  from  month  to  month  and  from  year  to  year, 
and  yet  into  that  constantly  diminishing  market  are  thrown  all  the  surplus 
products  of  the  world,  that  the  price  of  the  whole  product  may  there  be 
fixed.  The  effect  of  this  is  to  throw  on  the  planters  the  loss  that  should 
belong  to  themselves,  and  thus  enable  them  to  supply  themselves  at  the 
lowest  price;  whereas,  whenever  the  cotton  planter  shall  cease  to  be  depend¬ 
ent  upon  them  for  his  market,  they  will  again,  as  formerly,  be  obliged  to 
buy  at  the  highest  price.  The  product  of  British  labour,  measured  in  the  arti¬ 
cle  of  first  necessity,  food,  is  small,  and  the  surplus  remaining,  to  be  applied  to 
the  purchase  of  clothing,  is  therefore  very  small  indeed.  They  are  in¬ 
cessantly  engaged  in  supplying  low-priced,  and  often  worthless  clothing 
to  the  world,  and  are  therefore  unable  to  clothe  themselves. 

That  the  tendency  is  downward,  seems  scarcely  to  admit  of  a  doubt.  A 
few  years  since,  by  a  great  effort,  the  poor-rates  of  England  were  reduced 
to  less  than  £4, 000, 000.  They  have  since  risen  gradually,  and  those 
of  1848  were  £7,817,000,  or  $38,000,000.  Every  ninth  person  is  a 
pauper.  In  Scotland,  the  destitution  of  a  large  portion  of  the  population  is 
frightful.  The  people  of  the  Northern  and  Western  Highlands  are  in  a 
state  of  pauperism  ;  and  Glasgow  and  its  vicinity  present  a  scene  of  wretch¬ 
edness  scarcely,  if  at  all,  to  be  exceeded  in  the  world.  Ireland  is  exhausted. 
There  being  no  separate  accounts  of  the  imports  into  that  kingdom,  it  is  not 
possible  to  ascertain  the  present  consumption  of  cotton,  but  the  condition  of 
the  people  is  now  far  lower  than  at  the  dates  of  the  following  returns : — 

The  whole  import  of  cotton  into  Ireland  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  in  the 
twenty  years  from  1802  to  1821  both  inclusive,  amounted  to  538,542  hun¬ 
dred  weights,  or  about  150,000  bales,  being  an  average  of  7500  bales  per 
annum,  and  the  whole  import  of  cotton  yarn,  to  19,995,350  pounds,  or  about 
1,000,000  pounds  per  annum,  the  product  of  about  4000  bales,  making  a 
total  of  11,500  bales.*  The  amount  of  cloth  imported  is  not  given. 

In  1825,  the  year  of  great  expansion  everywhere,  with  an  export  to 
Great  Britain  of  agricultural  products  amounting  to  almost  $35,000,000,  we 
find  the  import  of  cotton-wool  to  have  been  4,065,930  pounds,  and  the  im¬ 
port  of  cotton  cloth  to  have  been  4,996,885  yards,  making  in  the  whole 
about  6,000,000  pounds,  or  about  18,000  bales  of  cotton,  in  ail  its  forms,  re¬ 
quired  for  the  supply  of  almost  8,000,000  people ;  being  about  three-quarters 
of  a  pound  per  head. 

In  subsequent  years,  no  information  can  be  obtained,  owing  to  changes  in 
the  mode  of  keeping  the  custom-house  accounts  ;  but  in  a  general  report  on 
the  state  of  the  trade  of  Ireland,  made  by  a  committee  whose  object  would 
not  have  been  promoted  by  under-estimates,  it  is  stated  that  the  import  of 
cotton-cloth  into  that  kingdom  was,  in  1835,  14,172,000  )^ards,  being  equal 
to  about  4,000,000  pounds  of  cotton,  or  half  a  pound  per  head.  What 
quantity  of  cotton-wool,  or  yarn,  was  imported  at  that  time,  cannot  be  ascer¬ 
tained,  but  it  is  elsewhere  shown  that  some  of  the  largest  establishments  for 
manufacture,  of  a  period  somewhat  earlier,  had  disappeared,  and  that  the 
calico  printers  were  in  a  state  of  bankruptcy.! 

We  may  now  look  to  the  consumption  of  the  colonies  of  Great  Britain. 
In  the  years  1845,  ’46,  ’47,  the  export  to  them  was  as  follows, J  in  millions 
of  pounds  : — 1845,  85 ;  1846,  87  ;  1847,  67.  Of  this,  however,  large 


*  Ireland  before  and  since  the  Union,  by  R.  Montgomery  Martin,  pages  56  to  60.  j-  Ibid. 
$  Merchants’  Magazine,  Vol.  XIX.  600. 


68 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


quantities  went  to  Gibraltar,  Malta,  Jamaica,  and  other  places,  to  be  smuggled 
into  Spain,  Mexico,  and  other  countries,  and  the  consumption  of  the  colonies 
of  themselves  could  not  have  exceeded  70,000,000,  or  about  170,000  bales, 
for  more  than  100,000,000  of  inhabitants.  During  this  time,  the  average 
price  was  a  fraction  over  7  cents,  and  it  follows  that  $5,000,000  is  the 
maximum  amount  of  trade  maintained,  through  the  medium  of  England,  by 
the  planting  States  of  the  Union,  ivith  a  large  portion  of  the  people  of  the 
world,  although  producing  two-thirds  of  the  whole  quantity  of  this  necessary 
commodity  for  the  use  of  the  world. 

Taking  the  total  consumption  of  the  United  Kingdom  and  the  colonies, 

we  now  have  the  following  quantities  : — 

1845.  1846.  1847. 

Millions  of  pounds  .  .  239  .  234  .  144 

Need  any  better  evidence  be  desired  of  the  poverty  inflicted  by  the  sys¬ 
tem  upon  all  the  people  subject  to  it,  than  the  fact  that  an  increase  of  price 
equal  to  one  cent  per  yard  reduces  the  consumption  almost  one-half? 

Let  this  be  compared  with  the  growth  of  consumption  in  the  protected 
markets  of  Germany  and  the  United  States,  and  it  will  be  seen  how  steady 
is  the  protected,  or  real  free -trade,  system,  compared  with  the  perpetual 
change  of  the  monopoly  one.  How  great,  too,  the  difference  in  the  con¬ 
sumption  per  head ! 

While  England  and  all  her  vast  possessions  consumed  but  144,000,000 
the  consumption  of  the  Zoll-verein  (population  25,000,000) 
had  grown  in  nine  years  from  45,000,000  to  115,000,000 

and  that  of  the  Union  was  .  .  .  .  .  .  243,000,000 

We  have  seen  how  slow  has  been  the  growth  of  the  English  demand,  and 
it  may  now  be  well  to  see  the  wasteful  and  exhausting  process  hy  which  even 
this  has  been  obtained.  “The  extremely  low  price  of  cotton,”  say  Messrs. 
Rathbone,  Brothers  &  Co.,*  “  has  encouraged  the  manufacture  of  a  very  in¬ 
ferior  class  of  goods,  which  require  a  great  weight  of  cotton  compared  to  the 
labour  expended  on  them,  and  of  which  the  make  ceases  entirely  when  cotton 
is  moderately  high.  The  demand  for  very  coarse  yarn,”  they  continue,  “  is 
always  large  at  very  cheap  prices,  but  in  the  year  just  closed  it  has  ex¬ 
ceeded  all  precedent,!  particularly  for  export,  chiefly  to  the  Levant,  and  in 
some  instances  to  accelerate  its  make,  it  has  not  passed  through  all  the 
usual  processes.  It  is  on  the  consumption  of  cotton  for  these  classes  of 
goods,”  they  add,  “that  even  a  moderate  advance  in  prices  is  apt  so  imme¬ 
diately  to  tell.”  The  cotton  thus  forced  into  the  Levant  goes  to  the  same 
countries  that  before  were  supplied  from  India,  and  thus  is  the  poor  Hindoo 
deprived  of  another  portion  of  his  market,  the  necessary  consequence  of 
which  must  be  a  further  depression  of  prices,  and  increased  inability  to  con¬ 
tinue  the  work  of  production.  The  decline  in  the  trade  of  YV  estern  India 
is  remarkable,  and  is  probably  the  result  of  this  flooding  of  the  Asiatic 
markets  with  half-made  cotton  goods.:}: 

*  Circular,  January  3d,  1849. 

j-  The  prices  of  ordinary  cotton  ranging  during  a  large  portion  of  the  year,  from 
3d.  to  4 d. 

4  The  average  imports  of  Bombay  for  the  five  years  ending  December  31,  1846,  were 
63,000,000  of  rupees,  while  those  of  1846  were  only  52,000,000.  The  exports  were  as 
follows : — 


Cotton, 

5  years  ending  December  31,  1846. 
bales  .  380,987 

1846. 

257,743 

Wool, 

lbs. 

.  3,421,976 

.  4,626,470 

Coffee, 

lbs. 

.  3,140,821 

.  1,529,900 

Pepper 

.  cwts. 

47,260 

46,182 

Indigo, 

.  lbs. 

135,833 

55,928 

Ivory, 

.  cwts. 

.  5,764 

$ 

.  .  6,109 

THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


69 


It  has  been  seen  how  large  was  the  export  to  India  in  the  first  six  months 
of  the  year,  and  now  we  see  by  the  newspapers  of  the  day  what  are  the 
consequences.  Low  as  was  the  price  of  cotton,  the  speculation  has  not 
answered.  The  markets  are  glutted,  and  the  prices  are  unremunerative. 
“Great  caution,”  it  is  said,  “  must  now  be  exercised,  or  the  exporting  houses 
will  suffer  exceedingly.”*  The  small  rise  in  price  has  already  caused 
many  mills  to  commence  working  short-time,  and  the  operatives  in  them  are 
thus  deprived  of  the  power  to  purchase  clothing.  It  is. the  most  gambling, 
and  most  extraordinary  system,  and  the  most  destructive  to  the  interests  of 
the  agricultural  population  of  the  world  that  has  ever  been  devised.  The 
fever  and  the  chill  succeed  each  other  with  such  rapidity,  that  we  are 
scarcely  advised  of  the  arrival  of  the  one,  before  we  see  indications  of  the 
approach  of  the  other.  The  cause  of  this  difficulty  of  extending  the  sale 
of  cotton  in  distant  markets  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  labour-cost  of 
cloth  so  obtained  is  great.  We  have  seen  that  the  extension  of  the  manu¬ 
facture  in  this  country  for  a  few  years  following  the  passage  of  the  tariff  of 
1828  was  rapid,  and  that  it  then  became  almost  stationary  under  the  Com¬ 
promise,  yet  the  import  not  only  did  not  increase  but  decreased  until  it 
reached  the  lowest  point  in  the  period  of  1842-43.  The  labour-cost  of 
clothing  was  steadily  increasing,  but  as  the  tariff  of  1842  came  into  operation 
the  labour-cost  diminished,  and  there  arose  a  power  to  pay  for  finer  cloths 
from  abroad,  and  thus  the  import  and  manufacture  increased  together.  If 
we  desire  to  see  the  operation  of  this,  we  need  only  take  a  single  farmer 
of‘ Tennessee  or  Kentucky,  who  obtains  30  or  40  bushels  of  corn  in  return 
for  the  labour  bestowed  on  an  acre  of  land,  and  is  happy  to  sell  it  at  20  cents 
per  bushel, t  when  the  price  in  Liverpool  is  75  or  80  cents.  Thirty-five 
bushels  yield  here  $7,  which  is  about  the  cost  of  70  yards  of  tolerable  cotton- 
cloth,  plain  and  printed,  when  received  on  his  farm.  To  produce  those  70 
yards  would  require  20  pounds  of  cotton,  or  one-twentieth  of  the  product 
of  a  well-cultivated  acre.  To  convert  those  pounds  into  yards  of  cloth 
requires  far  less  than  half  the  capital,  and  half  the  labour  required  for  their 
original  production.  Taking,  however,  the  conversion  at  one  half,  and  adding 
that  proportion  to  the  number  of  pounds,  we  obtain  the  equivalent  of  30 
pounds  of  raw  cotton  as  the  return  for  35  bushels  of  corn,  and  yet  that  corn 
sells,  at  the  place  of  consumption,  for  as  much  as  would  purchase  almost  a  bale 
of  cotton.  It  is  obvious  that  though  the  money-price  of  the  cloth  is  low,  the 
labour-price  is  high,  and  it  is  by  the  latter  that  the  power  of  consumption  is 
measured.  The  cloth,  too,  is  worthless.  As  far  back  as  1832,  the  quantity  of 
flour  required  for  the  use  of  the  cotton  factories  of  England  was  stated  vX  forty- 
two  millions  of  pounds  r £  or  almost  as  much  as  the  weight  of  100,000  bales 
of  cotton,  all  of  which  is  traded  off  as  cotton,  to  the  poor  consumers  of  dis¬ 
tant  lands,  who  are  thus  defrauded  and  impoverished. 

Bad  as  is  even  this,  it  is  far  from  all  the  loss  that  is  sustained.  The  corn 
is  sent  from  the  land,  and  the  farmer  loses  the  refuse.  The  land  is  impo¬ 
verished,  and  its  occupant  is  compelled  to  fly  to  other  lands,  to  be  again  im¬ 
poverished.  The  loss  from  this  source  alone  is  far  more  than  the  value  of 
all  the  imports  into  the  Union ,  of  every  description, from  all  the  manufactur¬ 
ing  nations  of  the  world.  The  apparently  cheap  clothing  is  very  dear.  It 
is  obtained  at  the  cost  of  much  labour,  and  of  little  value  when  obtained. 

*  Morning  Herald,  November. 

j-  “  Tennessee  grows  more  corn  than  any  State  of  the  Union.  A  few  months  since  we 
took  the  liberty  to  ask  a  farmer  from  Tennessee  who  had  a  drove  of  hogs  in  our  streets, 
the  price  of  corn  in  the  region  from  whence  he  came.  He  replied  that  it  was  worth  ten 
cents,  and  wheat  fifty  cents  a  bushel.” — Augusta  Chronicle ,  May ,  1849. 

4  McCulloch's  Commercial  Dictionary,  article  Cotton. 


70 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


What  is  true  of  Tennessee  and  India,  is  equally  so  of  the  other  parts  of  the 
world  that  are  compelled  to  depend  on  England  for  supplies  of  cotton  cloth. 
The  poor  Russian  obtains  less  than  a  pound  of  cotton  for  a  bushel  of  wheat, 
and  thus  he  gives  ten  days’  labour  for  one  ;  whereas,  if  he  could  have 
cotton  converted  on  the  spot,  by  the  man  who  ate  his  food,  he  would  obtain 
day’s  labour  for  day’s  labour.  So  is  it  with  the  German,  the  South  Ameri¬ 
can,  the  Mexican,  the  Italian,  the  Spaniard,  and  the  Turk.  The  system  tends 
to  prevent  concentration  and  combination  of  action,  and  to  diminish  the  value 
of  labour  throughout  the  world,  and  it  is  because  of  this,  that  almost  all  na¬ 
tions  are  endeavouring  to  shut  out  the  manufactures  of  Great  Britain. 
Everywhere,  however,  they  are  met  by  the  smuggler,  now  regarded  by  the 
highest  authorities  of  Great  Britain  as  the  greatest  of  reformers.  Gibraltar 
is  maintained  for  the  purpose  of  smuggling  goods  into  Spain.  Exhausted  Por¬ 
tugal  receives  millions  of  pounds  of  cotton  goods,  likewise  to  be  smuggled 
into  Spain;  and  thus  is  that  unfortunate  country  kept  in  a  state  of  poverty, 
because  the  people  of  England  are  pleased  to  believe  that  it  is  profitable  to 
buy  cloth  produced  abroad,  while  the  labourer  at  home  is  idle  for  want  of 
demand  for  his  labour,  and  the  food  perishes  on  the  ground  for  want  of 
mouths  to  eat  or  roads  to  transport  it. 

If  the  system  tends  to  the  exhaustion  of  the  people  who  have  to  buy  cot¬ 
ton  at  so  high  a  price,  not  less  does  it  tend  to  the  exhaustion  of  those  who 
have  to  produce  it,  and  who  are  compelled  to  sell  at  whatever  price  the  peo¬ 
ple  of  England  think  proper  to  fix  upon  it.  Why  that  is  so,  may,  perhaps, 
be  ascertained  by  an  examination  of  the  following  table  : — 

Gross  proceeds  of  sales  of  American 
cotton  in  Liverpool,  from  which 
are  to  be  deducted  freights,  com- 


Stock  in  Liverpool,  Dec.  31. 

missions,  &c.  &c.  Weight 

Crop. 

Bales. 

Price. 

estimated  at  460  pounds. 

1837- 

-1,422,000 

158,000 

Id. 

.  $49,000,000 

1838- 

-1,801,000 

316,000 

7 

57,000,000 

1839- 

-1,360,000 

242,000 

7 1 

57,000,000 

1840- 

-2,177,000 

403,000 

6 

55,000,000 

1841- 

-1,631,000 

344,000 

6| 

45,000,000 

1842- 

-1,684,000 

373,000 

6f 

47,000,000 

1843- 

-2,379,000 

593,000 

4.3 

^8 

47,000,000 

1844- 

-2,030,000 

654,000 

4 1 

49,000,000 

1845- 

-2,415,000 

808,000 

43 

^8 

51,000,000 

1846- 

-2,100,000 

597,000 

56,000,000 

1847- 

-1,778,000 

286,000 

6* 

51,000,000 

1848- 

-2,347,000 

348,000 

45,000,000 

The  quotations  of  the  latter  portion  of  the  last  year  were  below  the  aver¬ 
age,  being  about  Ad.,  and  about  that  point  they  remained  for  several 
months,  until  the  chief  portion  of  the  crop  had  been  shipped.  The  un¬ 
favourable  prospects  for  the  new  crop  tended  to  prevent  a  further  fall,  but  it 
is  impossible  to  tell  what  would  have  been  the  price  had  that  of  the  pre¬ 
sent  year  increased  in  its  proper  ratio  to  the  population  engaged  in  its  pro¬ 
duction.  It  would  certainly  have  fallen  much  below  even  fourpence.  An 
examination  of  this  table  will,  I  think,  enable  us  to  understand  the  cause  of 
the  present  extraordinary  state  of  things.  A  large  portion  of  the  crop  of 
the  present  year  has  been  destroyed  by  frosts,  freshets,  &c.,  and  that  fact, 
instead  of  bringing  with  it  distress  and  ruin,  has  brought  with  it  increased 
activity  and  life  among  planters,  and  increased  power  to  consume  cloth, 
sugar,  coffee,  &c.  Why  is  it  so  ?  The  answer  can,  I  think,  readily  be 
given. 

The  amount  that  can  be  collected  by  Great  Britain,  in  payment  for  Ameri¬ 
can  cotton,  consumed  at  home  and  abroad,  and  for  freights,  commissions,  &c., 
appears  to  be  limited  to  somewhere  between  $45,000,000  and  $5/, 000, 000, 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


71 


with  an  obvious  tendency  to  diminution.  Of  the  crop  of  the  past  four  years, 
the  quantity  consumed  among-  ourselves,  and  exported  by  us  directly  to  foreign 
ports,  has  not  varied  materially  from  1,000,000,  The  balance  has  gone  to 
England,  who  has  $57,000,000  with  which  to  pay  for  900,000  bales,  say  $63 
a  bale.  The  crop,  however,  reaches  2,400,000  bales,  and  we  send  her 
1,400,000;  all  of  which  have  to  be  compressed  within  a  smaller  sum  than 
57,000,000,  for  now  there  are  large  expenses  for  storage,  interest,  risk,  &c., 
and  the  amount  falls  to  50,000,000,  leaving  the  planter  but  $36  a  bale,  out 
of  which  he  has  to  pay  the  high  freights  consequent  upon  large  crops, 
and  upon  a  large  number  of  bales,  instead  of  that  moderate  freight  that  would 
have  accompanied  small  ones,  and  upon  a  small  number  of  bales.  The 
price  obtained  in  England  fixes  that  of  the  crop,  and  the  result  is  as  fol¬ 
lows  : — 

1,900,000  bales  at  $63, . $120,000,000 

Less  low  freights,  at  home  and  abroad,  upon  a  small 
quantity. 

2,400,000  bales  at  $36,  ......  86,000,000 

Less  high  freights,  at  home  and  abroad,  upon  a  large 
quantity. 

It  is  obvious  that  it  would  have  been  far  better  that  the  500,000 
bales  should  have  been  burned,  or  destroyed  by  frost  before  being  picked. 
The  crop  of  1844  was  812,000,000  pounds,  and  the  product  was  esti¬ 
mated  at  .........  $65,772,000 

In  1845,  it  rose  to  958,000,000,  and  the  product  fell  to  .  56,000,000 

In  1847,  it  fell  to  711,000,000,  worth  .....  72,000,000 

In  1848,  it  rose  to  1,100,000,000,  and  until  the  occurrence  of 
frosts  and  freshets,  the  prospect  was  that  it  would  not  aver¬ 
age  at  New  Orleans  more  than  5|  cents,  or  .  .  60,000,000 

The  gradual  but  steady  subjugation  of  the  planters  to  the  system  may  be 
seen  from  the  following  facts  :  From  1830  to  1835,  the  price  of  cotton  here 
was  about  eleven  cents,  which  we  may  suppose  to  be  about  what  it  would 
yield  in  England,  free  of  freight  and  charges.  In  those  years  our  average 
export  was  about  320,000,000,  yielding  about  $35,000,000,  and  the  average 
price  of  cotton  cloth,  per  piece  of  24  yards,  weighing  5  lbs.  12  oz.,  was 
7s.  10(/.,  ($L88,)  and  that  of  iron  £6,  10s.,  ($31*20.)  Our  exports  would 
therefore  have  produced  us,  delivered  in  Liverpool,  18,500,000  pieces  of 
cloth,  or  about  1,100,000  tons  of  iron.  In  1845  and  ’46,  the  home  consumption 
of  the  people  of  England  was  almost  the  same  quantity,  say  311,000,000 
pounds,  and  the  average  price  here  was  6|  cents,  making  the  product 
$20,000,000.  The  price  of  cloth  then  was  6s.  6fr7.,  ($1*57£,)  and  that  of 
iron  about  £10,  ($48,)  and  the  result  was,  that  we  could  have,  for  nearly  the 
same  quantity  of  cotton,  about  12,500,000  pieces  of  cloth,  or  about  420,000 
tons  of  iron,  delivered  in  Liverpool.  Dividing  the  return  between  the  two 
commodities,  it  stands  thus:  — 

Average  from  1830  to  1835.  1845-6.  Loss. 

Cloth,  pieces,  -  9,250,000  .  6,250,000  .  3,000,000 

And  iron,  tons,  -  550,000  .  210,000  .  340,000 

The  labour  required  for  converting  cotton  into  cloth  had  been  greatly 
diminished,  and  yet  the  proportion  retained  by  the  manufacturers  was  greatly 
increased,  as  will  now  be  shown: — 

Weight  of  Cotton  given  Retained  by  the 
Weight  of  Cotton  used.  to  the  planters.  manufacturers. 

320.000.000  -  110.000.000  -  210,000,000 


1830  to  1835, 


72 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


In  the  first  period,  the  planter  would  have  had  34  per  cent,  of  his  cotton 
returned  to  him  in  the  form  of  cloth,  but  in  the  second  only  24  per  cent. 
The  grist  miller  gives  the  farmer  from  year  to  year  a  larger  proportion 
of  the  product  of  his  grain,  and  thus  the  latter  has  all  the  profit  of  every 
improvement.  The  cotton  miller  gives  the. planter  from  year  to  year  a 
smaller  portion  of  the  cloth  produced.  The  one  miller  comes  daily  nearer  to 
the  producer.  The  other  goes  daily  farther  from  him,  for  with  the  increased 
product  the  cost  of  transportation  is  increased.  __  <  . 

We  may  now  inquire  into  the  cause  of  the  accumulation  of  stock  in  the 
English  market,  and  if  that  can  he  ascertained,  we  shall  be  able  to  see  why 
it  is  that  cotton  has  fallen  so  ruinously  low. 

Of  the  crop  of  1828-29,  our  own  consumption  was  .  .  118,009 

Of  those  of  1832-33  and  1833-34,  the  average  was  .  .  195,000 

Of  that  of  1834-35,  it  was . .  216,000 

having  almost  doubled  in  six  years,  and  with  a  tendency  to  an  increase  in 
the  ratio  of  advance ;  and  this  increase  was  attended  by  no  diminution  in  our 
consumption  of  foreign  cloth. 

Of  the  crop  of  1841-42,  we  consumed  only  .  .  •  368, OUU 

with  a  great  diminution  in  the  consumption  of  foreign  cloth. 

Of  that  of  1847-48,  .  .  .  •  •  •  607,000 

with  a  large  increase  in  the  consumption  of  foreign  cloth,  the  total  con¬ 
sumption  having  much  more  than  doubled  in  a  similar  period  of  time.  In 
the  period  intermediate  between  1835  and  1843,  our  consumption  had  been 
stationary.  Had  it  not  been  interfered  with  by  the  action  of  the  Compromise 
bill,  it  would  certainly  have  doubled  in  that  period,  and  probably  much 
more  than  doubled.  If,  however,  we  assume  an  increase  of  only  12!  per 
cent,  per  annum,  or  quadruple  the  increase  of  population,  the  following 
would  have  been  the  home  demand : — 


1835- 6 

1836- 7 

1837- 8 

1838- 9 


243,000  bales 
273,000  « 
307,000  “ 
345,000  « 


1839- 40 

1840- 41 

1841- 42 

Total 


388,000  bales 
437,000  « 

491,000  “ 


2,484,000 

1,844,000 


The  actual  consumption  was 

Difference  .  •  640,000 

The  loss  of  demand  to  the  planter  was  thus  more  than  the  whole  quantity 
that  was  left  unsold  when  the  market  broke  down. 

Following  up  the  consumption  to  the  present  time  at  the  same  rate,  we 

obtain  the  following  results  : — 


1842- 3 

1843- 4 

1844- 5 

1845- 6 


552,000  bales 
621,000  “ 
680,000  “ 
785,000  “ 


1846- 7 

1847- 8 

1848- 9 


883,000  bales 
994,000  « 
1,019,090  “ 


The  actual  consumption  has  been  about 

Difference  in  seven  years, 

Total  difference, 


5,550,000 

3,000,000 

2,550,000 

3,190,000 


No  one  can  doubt  that  the  progress  would  have  been  greater  than  is  here 
set  down,  and  yet  with  no  more  than  this,  we  should  have  used  above 
3,000,000  bales  that  we  have  not  used.  Had  we  done  so,  the  producer 
of  cotton  would  have  fixed  the  price  and  not  the  buyer.  Under  such  cir¬ 
cumstances  would  it  have  fallen  below  ten  or  twelve  cents  per  pound  ? 
Would  it  not,  on  the  contrary,  have  risen  to  fourteen  or  fifteen,  unless  the 
crop  had  been  much  increased  ?  I  think  it  would,  and  I  feel  assured  that  it 
will  do  so  in  a  very  brief  period  from  the  thorough  adoption  of  a  system 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


73 


that  will  establish  here  such  a  market  for  labour  as  will  enable  us  to  con¬ 
sume  on  the  land  the  products  of  the  land,  and  my  reasons  for  so  believing 
are  as  follows  : — 

The  good  cotton  lands  of  India  are  now  waste.  To  render  them  productive 
requires  labour  and  capital.  To  induce  the  application  of  either,  the  labourer 
must  have  wages  and  the  owner  of  capital  must  have  profits.  Both  must 
rise  in  price  with  any  increased  demand  for  them.  Such  demand  must 
arise  when  England  shall  find  herself  compelled  to  look  to  India  for  any 
increased  supply,  as  she  must  do  so  soon  as  our  home  demand  shall  have 
risen  to  the  extent  of  1,000,000  bales  per  annum,  as  it  will  do  in  the  next 
three  years,  if  permitted  so  to  do. 

It  will  be  asked,  what  should  we  do  with  all  this  cloth?  In  reply,  I  say 
again,  and  I  repeat  it  because  it  is  essential  that  it  be  recollected — every 
man  is  a  consumer  to  the  ivhole  extent  of  his  production,  whatever  that 
may  be.  Had  the  tariff  of  1828  remained  unchanged,  the  production  of  coal 
in  the  same  period  would  have  reached  15,000,000  tons,  for  furnaces  and 
rolling-mills  would  have  been  built  throughout  the  country,  and  railroad 
bars  would  have  been  made  by  hundreds  of  thousands  of  tons,  and  treble  the 
roads  would  have  been  made  without  producing  bankruptcy.  The  demand 
for  roads,  and  mills,  and  furnaces,  and  steam-engines  of  every  description 
would  have  created  a  vast  demand  for  labour  that  was  wasted,  and  the  surplus 
earnings  would  have  gone  to  the  purchase  of  clothing  and  other  of  the  con¬ 
veniences  and  comforts  of  life,  and  there  would  have  been  made  a  market 
on  the  land  for  the  products  of  the  land,  to  the  extent  of  hundreds  of  millions 
of  dollars,  enabling  both  farmer  and  planter  to  improve  the  machinery  of 
production  and  transportation,  growing  rich  instead  of  remaining  poor  as  they 
have  done.  With  each  such  step  the  immigration  from  Europe  would  have 
increased,  and  as  every  man  would  at  once  have  become  a  producer,  every 
one  would  have  been  a  consumer.  The  Englishman  would  consume  twelve 
pounds,  where  before  he  consumed  but  four,  and  the  Irishman  would  con¬ 
sume  twelve  where  before  he  consumed  but  one,  while  freights  to  Europe 
would  be  so  far  reduced  that  the  price  of  cotton  in  New  York  would  be 
almost  as  high  as  in  Liverpool. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  quantity  here  set  down  for  1846-7  exceeds, 
by  only  one-third,  that  which  we  actually  did  consume.  Had  immigration 
continued  to  increase,  from  1834  to  the  present  time,  at  the  rate  at  which  it 
was  then  advancing,  our  population  would  be  greater  than  it  now  is  by  20 
per  cent.,  providing  for  nearly  the  whole  quantity,  without  any  allowance  for 
increased  consumption  by  the  population  previously  existing.  The  whole 
of  them  would  have  needed  large  supplies  of  coffee,  silk,  and  a  thousand 
other  things  from  abroad,  for  much  of  which  we  should  have  paid  in 
cotton  goods.  The  facility  of  obtaining  iron  would  have  given  roads  to 
the  farmer  and  planter,  and  all  would  have  had  more  of  the  proceeds  of  their 
labour  to  apply  to  the  purchase  of  clothing.  The  planter  himself,  and  his 
people,  would  now  be  consuming  three  yards  where  now  they  consume  but 
one;  and  the  home-market  would  now  be  absorbing  1,200,000  bales,  in¬ 
stead  of  a  million.  What  then  would  be  the  price  of  cotton,  even  with  a  crop 
of  3,000.000?  Would  it  not  be  $60  a  bale,  yielding  him  180  millions  in¬ 
stead  of  80  ?  I  think  it  would. 

In  1845  and  1846,  the  planter  supplied  311,000,000  of  pounds,  for  which, 
delivered  on  the  sea-board,  he  could  have  had  74,000,000  lbs.  delivered  in 
Liverpool ,  the  freight  and  commissions,  homeward,  being  paid  by  him.  He 
gave  156,000,000  for  37,000,000,  the  charges  upon  which,  without  duty, 
would  have  reduced  it  to  30,000,000  on  the  plantation,  and  probably  less. 
The  30,000,000  had,  however,  been  twisted  and  woven,  and  the  difference, 


74 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


one  hundred  and  twenty-six  millions ,  was  what  he  gave  for  the  twisting 
and  weaving  of  thirty  millions.  The  average  work  of  operatives,  men  and 
women,  boys  and  girls,  exceeds  the  conversion  of  3000  pounds  of  cotton  into 
such  cloth,  per  annum.  The  planter,  then,  gave  126,000,000  of  pounds  of 
cotton  for  the  labour  of  10,000  persons,  chiefly  boys  and  girls,  and  he  trans¬ 
ported  156,000,000  to  market.  Were  he  to  calculate  the  cost  of  transporta¬ 
tion  from  the  plantation  to  Nashville,  or  other  place  of  shipment,  he  would 
find  that  that  alone  was  far  more  than  the  labour  he  obtained  m  return,  and 
that  he  had  in  fact  given  the  cotton  itself  away,  receiving  for  it  no  equivalent 

Had  the  whole  156,000,000  been  converted  at  home  into  cloth,  it  would 
have  amounted  to  about  seven  pounds  additional,  per  head, for  the  people  ol 
the  Union,  and  it  would  then  have  been  consumed  at  home,  for  the  con¬ 
sumption  of  the  South  would  then  have  risen  to  a  level  with  the  present 
consumption  of  the  North,  and  the  latter  would  have  largely  increased,  be¬ 
cause  of  the  great  demand  for  labour  that  would  have  existed.  Had  that 
been  done,  the  price  of  the  whole  crop  would  have  been  8  cf  .instead,  of  42d., 
and  the  planter  would  have  received  seven  cents  per  pound,  additional ,  on 
900,000,000  of  pounds,  or  sixty-three  millions  of  dollars — and  that,  large  a 
sum  as  it  is,  is  but  a  part  of  the  benefit  that  would  have  resulted  from  such 

a  course  of  operation.  .  c  . 

It  will  be  said  that  high  prices  would  arrest  consumption.  If  so,  how  im¬ 
portant  it  is  to  the  producer  to  cut  off  the  enormous  charges  of  the  host  of 
persons  that  now  intervene  between  himself  and  those  who  desire  to  con¬ 
sume  his  products.  High  prices,  consequent  upon  the  maintenance  of  the 
existing  system,  do  arrest  it,  because  they  are  a  tax  upon  both  producer  and 
consumer.  Such  prices  realized  by  the  former,  consequent  upon  an  in¬ 
creased  facility  of  exchanging  with  the  latter,  would  produce  a  contrary 
effect  They  would  increase  it  ;  for  we  should  obtain  more  from  all 
the  world  for  what  we  had  to  sell,  and  our  own  consumption  would  in¬ 
crease  more  rapidly.  The  increasing  emigration  to  this  country  would  raise 
the  value  of  man ‘abroad,  and  those  whom  we  now  see  expelling  him  from 
their  lands,  burning  his  house  that  he  may  not  return,  would  then  find 
themselves  compelled  to  offer  him  inducements  to  remain.  Agriculture 
would  then  improve  and  wages  would  rise,  and  the  power  to  consume  cot¬ 
ton,  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  would  grow,  to  the  infinite  advantage  of 
the  planter.  With  the  increased  demand,  he  would  at  length  find  some- 
thing  like  certainty  in  place  of  the  present  gambling  system  under  which 
he  is  so  often  nearly  ruined.  How  little  certainty  he  now  can  have  will  be 
seen  by  the  following  diagrams,  which  I  take  from  the  circular  of  Messrs. 
Rathbone,  Brothers,  &  Co.,  before  referred  to. 


Fluctuations  in  the  price  of  Cotton,  in  1848. 


Jan.  Feb.  Mar.  April.  May.  June.  July.  Aug.  Sept.  Oct.  Nov.  Dec. 


*5d. 
|  Mid 

}4 d 


*  Fair  Orleans. 


f  Middling.  J  Ordinary. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


75 


The  following  shows  the  variations,  from  1844  to  1848,  in  the  prices  of 
cotton,  twist,  and  cloth. 

1844.  1845.  1846.  1847.  1848. 


d. 

No.  40  s,  11 
Best  2d 
Mule 

Twist.  9 

*  Gray  8 
Shirtings,  ^ 
72  Reed, 
38^  Yds.  6 

Cotton  5 
Fair 

Upland.  4 


The  highest  and  lowest  lines  show  the  comparative  prices  of  yarn  and  cotton,  the  quotations  being 
per.  lb.  on  the  left  of  the  tables.  The  middle  line  shows  the  fluctuations  of  a  cotton  long  cloth,  the 
quotations  being  per  piece,  on  the  right  of  the  tables. 

Here  we  see  the  price  of  cotton  lowest  when  cloth  is  at  the  highest;  and 
the  manufacturers  realizing  fortunes,  while  the  planter  is  being  ruined.  Such 
are  the  inevitable  results  of  a  system  that  forces  almost  all  the  cotton  of  the 
world  into  a  market  in  which  there  is  but  a  given  amount  to  be  exchanged 
against  it,  and  in  which  the  price  of  each  pound  is  dependent  entirely  upon 
the  relation  which  the  whole  mass  bears  to  the  constantly  diminishing  sum 
that  can  be  spared  to  pay  for  it.  It  is  a  constantly  shrinking  Procrustean 
bed.  While  thus  destroying  the  planter,  and  lessening  his  power  to  provide 
for  his  people,  there  is  an  unceasing  abuse  of  him  as  an  owner  of  slaves, 
and  an  unceasing  threat  to  substitute  the  free  labour  of  the  wretched  Hin¬ 
doo  for  that  of  the  well-fed,  well-clothed,  and  well-housed  labourer  of  the 
South,  and  the  lower  the  price  of  cotton,  the  stronger  is  the  determination  to 
keep  it  low.  Railroads  are  to  be  made  in  India,  that  cotton  may  come  to 
market  cheap,  and  cotton  cloth  go  more  freely  to  that  country  ;  and  yet  with 
every  step  of  increase  in  the  export  of  cotton  goods,  the  poor  Hindoo  becomes 
more  and  more  enslaved,  and  more  and  more  the  victim  of  famine  and  pes¬ 
tilence. 

The  difference  between  twelve  cents  and  eight  cents  per  pound  for  cotton 
is,  on  an  average,  about  one  cent  a  yard.  The  consumption  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland  is  about  fifteen  yards  per  head,  while  the  average  of  that  of  her 
colonies  is  about  three.  It  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  this  difference  could 
make  any  essential  difference  in  the  consumption  of  an  article  of  the  first 
importance,  under  natural  circumstances;  but  if  it  could,  how  immense 
would  be  the  difference  in  our  home  consumption  that  would  result  from 
the  adoption  of  a  system  that  would  enable  the  farmers  of  Tennessee  and 
Ohio  to  exchange  produce  with  the  planter — food  for  cotton — giving  acre  for 
acre,  instead  of,  as  now,  bushels  for  pounds — the  difference  being  swallowed 
up  in  the  transit  of  the  food  and  the  cotton  to  and  from  Liverpool  and  Man¬ 
chester. 

The  harmony  of  interests,  throughout  every  part  of  the  Union,  is  perfect, 
and  all  that  is  needed  is,  that  all  should  understand  it.  What  injures  the 
farmer  injures  the  planter;  and  vice  versa ,  the  planter  cannot  suffer  without 
injury  to  the  farmer.  Throughout  the  South,  planters  are  abandoning  cotton 
and  substituting  wheat,  and  that  at  a  moment  when  the  European  market 


liiiiiiiiliiiiiigiiiiiiiiii-iaiiiiiiilaayigl 


- - « — 


76 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


for  food  is  to  be  closed  against  the  hundreds  of  millions  for  which,  as  it  is 
asserted,  we  now  need  a  market. 

As  some  may  doubt  the  existence  of  this  harmony,  I  propose  now  to  show 
how  the  present  course  of  action,  as  relates  to  food,  tends  to  destroy  the 
market  for  cotton. 

The  people  of  Germany  and  Russia,  after  feeding  themselves,  have  food 
to  sell.  With  the  produce  of  that  food  they  desire  to  buy  cloth.  The 
higher  the  price  of  the  food  they  sell,  the  more  cloth  they  can  buy.  The 
great  food  market,  at  present,  is  England.  If  we  fill  that  market,  the  price 
of  food  will  be  low,  and  the  German  can  buy  little  cotton.  If  we  do  not, 
it  may  be  high,  and  he  may  buy  much  cotton.  We  are  now  converting 
labourers,  miners,  and  mechanics  into  farmers,  diminishing  the  consumers 
and  increasing  the  producers.  The  more  consumers  we  have,  the  less 
food  we  shall  have  to  spare,  the  higher  will  be  the  price  of  food  in 
England,  and  the  greater  will  be  the  quantity  of  cotton  that  can  be  purchased 
by  the  German  and  the  Russian.  The  more  producers  we  have,  the  more 
food  we  shall  have  to  sell,  the  lower  will  be  its  price,  and  the  smaller  will 
be  the  quantity  of  cotton  that  can  be  produced  by  the  German  and  the 
Russian.  All  this  seems  to  me  so  obviously  true,  that  it  needs  only  to  be 
stated.  It  has  been  seen  that  the  price  of  food  is  here  maintained  by  a  home 
demand  resulting  from  the  great  immigration  now  taking  place,  and  we 
know  that  if  by  causing  a  demand  for  labour  for  the  building  of  furnaces 
and  mills,  and  other  similar  works,  we  could  cause  the  immigration  to  go 
next  year  to  half  a  million,  there  would  be  a  further  demand  for  grain,  that 
would  carry  prices  to  a  point  still  higher.  Let  us  now  suppose  the  immi¬ 
gration  of  next  year  to  be  600,000,  producing  a  further  increase  of  demand  for 
food  to  the  extent  of  twenty  or  thirty  millions  of  dollars,  and  see  what  would 
be  the  effect  upon  the  planter.  The  Canadian  would  find  a  market  for  his 
grain  within  the  Union,  for  the  price  would  be  sufficiently  high  to  enable 
him  to  pay  the  duty.  The  value  of  agricultural  labour  everywhere  would 
rise  with  the  increasing  price  of  food  ;  and  every  farmer,  at  home  and 
abroad,  would  consume  more  cloth,  because  he  could  sell  the  products  of 
his  labour  higher,  i.  e.  he  could  obtain  more  cloth  and  iron  for  it.  The 
German,  the  Russian,  the  Irishman  and  the  Englishman  would  be  larger 
customers  than  now,  while  the  home  demand  would  absorb  enormous  quan¬ 
tities  that  would  otherwise  go  to  England  to  augment  “  the  stock  on  hand,” 

!by  the  size  of  which  is  measured  the  price  to  be  paid  for  the  ensuing  crop. 

Our  present  policy  tends  to  destroy  the  home  market  and  the  foreign 
market  too.  It  diminishes  the  productiveness  of  labour  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic,  and  all  that  is  taken  from  the  surplus  that  remains  after  feeding 
the  labourer,  is  so  much  taken  from  the  fund  that  would  otherwise  go  to  the 

I  purchase  of  cloth  or  iron. 

THE  TOBACCO  PLANTER. 

A  brief  examination  of  the  tobacco  trade  will  show  precisely  similar  re- 
suits.  In  1822,  we  exported  83,000  hogsheads,  and  the  price  was  $74  82, 
yielding  about  $6,200,000.  In  1845,  we  exported  147,000  hogsheads,  and 
the  price  was  $50,  yielding  $7,350,000.  Deducting  the  extra  expense 
of  transportation  to  the  place  of  shipment,  the  producers  received  less  for 
the  large  quantity  than  they  had  done  for  the  small  one.  From  1830  to 
1835,  the  export  averaged  90,000,  and  the  amount  was  $6,200,000,  yielding 
to  the  producer,  on  his  plantation,  as  much  as  the  larger  quantity  in  1845. 
The  sum  of  $6,200,000,  at  these  two  periods,  would  have  brought  in  Liver¬ 
pool  : — 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


77 


1830  to  1835,  pieces  of  cloth,  3,300,000,  or  tons  of  iron,  200,000 
1845,  “  “  3,900,000  “  130,000 

The  planter  is  giving  almost  two-thirds  more  of  tobacco  for  twenty  per  cent, 
more  cloth,  although  his  brother  planter  is  almost  ruined  by  the  low  price 
of  cotton;  but  in  the  case  of  iron  it  is  worse,  for  he  gives  two-thirds  more 
for  thirty-five  per  cent.  less.  In  the  first  period,  he  could  have  two  and  one- 
fifth  tons  for  a  hogshead;  whereas  in  the  last  he  has  little  more  than  one- 
third  of  the  quantity,  or  seven-eighths  of  a  ton.  It  is  obvious  that  he  is  being 
taxed  by  somebody,  that  he  is  giving  more  and  receiving  less,  and  that  the 
cause  of  this  is,  that  the  productive  power  enabling  the  people  outside  of  the 
Union  to  pay  for  tobacco,  does  not  keep  pace  with  the  power  of  these  inside 
of  the  Union  to  produce  it.  What  is  his  remedy  ?  It  is  to  increase  the  number 
of  people  inside  of  the  Union,  with  whom  he  can  have  perfect  freedom  of 
trade.  The  Englishman  will  consume  six  pounds  for  one  that  he  can  now 
consume,  burdened  as  it  is  with  a  tax  of  3s.  per  pound;  the  German  will 
do  the  same;  and  so  will  the  Frenchman,  when  he  can  free  himself  from 
the  tax  imposed  upon  him  by  the  government  monopoly.  The  more  men 
that  are  imported,  the  more  will  be  transferred  from  the  list  of  small  cus¬ 
tomers  to  that  of  large  ones,  and  the  less  will  be  the  cost  of  transportation 
from  the  place  of  production  in, Maryland  or  Virginia,  Ohio  or  Kentucky, 
to  the  place  of  consumption,  Philadelphia  or  New  York,  Berlin  or  Vienna; 
for  the  larger  the  bulk  and  value  of  the  commodities  transported  west,  the 
lower  will  be  the  charge  for  transportation  eastward.  Between  the  interests 
of  the  tobacco  planter,  the  manufacturer,  and  the  ship-owner,  there  is  there¬ 
fore  perfect  harmony. 

THE  SUGAR  PLANTER. 

The  sugar  trade  presents  the  same  state  of  things.  The  agriculturists  of 
the  world  are  giving  a  constantly  increasing  quantity  of  labour  as  the  equiva¬ 
lent  of  a  constantly  diminishing  one.  The  following  exhibit  of  the  move¬ 
ment  of  the  great  sugar  market,  since  the  commencement  of  the  present 
century,  shows  that  the  amount  paid  for  sugar  has  been  constantly  dimin¬ 
ishing,  while  the  price  of  the  English  commodities  given  in  exchange  has 
varied  in  a  degree  so  much  less  that  whereas  in  1801  the  consumption  of  14T2ff 
persons  paid  for  a  ton  of  iron,  that  of  24  was  required  in  1831,  and  the  pro¬ 
portion  has  been  steadily  increasing.  The  whole  sum  paid  in  1847  for  this 
important  article  of  food,  by  twenty-nine  mWions  of  people,  was  less  than 
was  paid  in  1801  by  sixteen  millions,  and  the  contribution  per  head  was 
less  than  one-half,  and  yet  the  difference  in  the  price  of  iron  was,  by  com¬ 
parison,  trifling.* 


*  The  case  is  the  same  in  regard  to  all  other  of  the  products  of  the  land.  In  1841  and 
1842,  the  colonial  timber  received  in  Great  Britain  averaged  931,000  loads.  In  1846 
and  1847,  the  average  was  1,150,000  loads.  In  1848,  1,102,000  loads.  The  price, 
meanwhile,  had,  however,  fallen  almost  ten  per  cent.,-f-  and  the  colonist,  after  paying  the 
extra  freight,  must  have  received  less,  in  money,  for  the  large  than  for  the  small  quan¬ 
tity,  while  the  price  of  iron  had  advanced  fifty  per  cent.  His  timber  would  therefore 
yield  him  about  forty  per  cent,  less  weight  of  iron  to  be  employed  in  the  further  pro¬ 
duction  of  timber.  The  writer  from  whom  I  quote  gives  many  other  facts  to  show  that 
the  increased  supplies  have  been  obtained  at  “the  same  cost  of  labour/5  or  that  means 
.have  been  found  “for  making  our  [their]  own  industry  more  productive.”!:  It  does  not 
matter  which,  but  of  the  two  conditions  he  “prefers  the  former.”  The  former  is  the  one, 
and  being  such  it  is  scarcely  to  be  wondered  that  the  poor  and  over-taxed  colonists  desire 
annexation. 

-j-  Edinburgh  Review,  July,  1849. 


$  Ibid. 


'/b 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


Quantity  retained  for 
Population.  consumption. — cwts. 


Price  per 
cwt. 


rice  per  Total  value 

cwt.  consumed. 


Price  per  head.  Price  of  iron,  ton  of  iron. 


Number  of  per¬ 
sons  fed  with 
sugar  in  ex¬ 
change  for  a 


1801  16,338,000  3,639,000* 
1811  18,500,000  3,818,000* 
1821  21,200,000  3,529,000* 
1831  24,029,000  4,233,000 


45/t  £8,188,000 
41/6t  £7,888,000 
34/ 1  £6,000,000 
23/8t  £5,000,000 


10/2  £7  5J  14-2 

8/6  £8±  18-8 

5/8  £6  10i  23 

4/2  £5J  24 


I  do  not  extend  this  table,  for  Mr.  Tooke’s  list  of  prices  does  not  come 
down  to  the  end  of  the  next  decennial  period,  and  I  have  no  other  that  ap¬ 
pears  to  correspond  with  it.  Enough,  however,  is  given  to  show  that  the 
people  of  the  United  Kingdom  were  steadily  giving  less  iron  for  more  sugar. 
In  1801  the  planter  could  have  1,100,000  tons  as  the  equivalent  of  180,000 
tons  ;  but  in  1831  he  could  have  but  a  million  of  tons  as  the  equivalent  of 
210,000.  From  that  time  to  the  present  there  has  been  an  unceasing  ef¬ 
fort  to  cheapen  sugar,  and  yet  there  were  taken  for  consumption  (including 
the  large  quantity  exported  after  being  refined)  in  the  years  1845  to  1847, 
only  15,900,000  cwts.,  or  an  average  of  5,300,000,  being  only  45  per  cent, 
more  than  in  1801,  while  the  population  had  increased  90  per  cent.  It  is 
obvious  that  the  power  of  consumption  diminishes,  and  yet  the  prices  of  the 
world  are  fixed  in  England.  The  consequence  of  this  is  seen  in  the  fact 
that  5,800,000  tons,  in  1 847,  would  command  but  £7,200,000,  while  3,600,000 
in  1801  would  command  about  £8,200,000. 

The  return  to  labour  employed  in  the  cultivation  of  cotton  has  fallen  so 
low  that  the  Carolinian  tries  wheat,  and  the  Mississippian  sugar.  Sugar 
falls  so  low  that  the  West  Indian  turns  his  attention  to  coffee.  By  the  time 
his  trees  have  become  productive,  the  price  has  so  far  fallen  that  he  cuts 
them  down,  and  then  the  price  rises,  while  that  of  sugar  falls. §  Thus  is  it 
ever  and  everywhere.  The  producers  are  over-ridden  by  the  exchangers, 
and  so  must  they  continue  to  be  while  they  shall  continue  to  have  the  piice 
of  their  whole  crops  determined  by  that  which  can  he  obtained  for  a  small 
surplus  in  the  constantly  diminishing  market  of  England. 

The  production  of  sugar  does  not  vary  greatly  from  a  million  of  tons,  and 
the  yield  to  the  planter  may  be  about  $70,  the  whole  amount  being  about 
$70,000,000.  Taking  the  cotton  crop  at  $80,000,000,  we  have  the  sum  of 
$150,000,000  as  the  value  of  the  labour  of  that  large  portion  of  the  popula¬ 
tion  of  the  world  employed  in  producing  these  two  articles,  so  essential  to 
the  comfort  of  the  rest  of  the  world.  The  equivalent  of  this  sum  in  1845 
and  1846  might  have  been  (delivered  on  the  plantation)  about  2,500,000 
tons  of  iron,  the  article  that,  of  all  others,  is  most  essential  to  the  mainte¬ 
nance,  or  the  increase,  of  the  productive  power. 

A  ton  of  bar  iron  is  not  the  equivalent  of  twenty-five  days  labour,  pro¬ 
perly  employed  among  the  coal  and  iron  fields  of  the  Union,  hut  even  at 
that  rate,  one  man  would  give  more  than  twelve  tons  per  annum.  4  o  pro¬ 
duce  the  whole  quantity  required  to  pay  for  the  cotton  and  sugar  crops  of 
the  world  would  require,  then,  the  labour  of  200,000  men.  Is  it  not  obvious 
that  the  agriculturists  of  the  world  are  taxed  to  a  vast  amount  for  the  support 


*  Porter’s  Progress  of  the  Nation,  Vol.  III.  page  32. 

f  Tooke’s  History  of  Prices,  Yol.  II.  page  413.  Mr.  Tooke  gives  the  various  prices  of 
the  year.  I  have  taken  what  appears  to  me  to  be  the  average. 

f  Ibid.  p.  406. 

§  From  this  cause  it  is  that  coffee  is  now  scarce  and  high,  and  sugar  abundant  and 
cheap,  the  price  of  the  latter  in  London  being  but  about  24s.  How  much  is  left  for  the 
poor  producer  that  has  paid  freight  from  Benares,  far  up  the  Ganges,  and  all  the  charges 
of  all  the  persons  through  whose  hands  it  has  passed,  may  readily  be  imagined.  Twenty 
pounds  of  sugar  must  be  required  to  pay  for  one  of  cotton,  in  the  form  of  coarse  clotn. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


79 


of  the  fleets  and  armies,  the  merchants  and  brokers,  the  paupers  and  the 
noblemen  of  Great  Britain,  and  is  it  not  incumbent  upon  them  to  free  them¬ 
selves  from  such  a  state  of  vassalage  ?  To  add  to  the  present  annual  pro¬ 
duction  of  the  Union  in  the  next  seven  years,  the  whole  quantity  of  iron 
required  to  pay  for  the  cotton  and  sugar  crops  of  the  world  would  require 
not  the  slightest  effort,  and  so  far  would  it  be  from  diminishing  the  supply 
of  food,  or  cotton,  that  the  production  of  both  would  increase  at  a  rate  more 
rapid  than  was  ever  before  known,  for  the  farmer  and  the  planter  would 
thus  obtain  a  market  on  the  land  for  the  products  of  the  land,  and  good  roads 
to  go  to  distant  markets,  and  the  chief  part  of  the  time  and  labour  now 
wasted  in  the  work  of  transportation  might  be  given  to  the  work  of  cultiva¬ 
tion.  We  should  then  import  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  to  make  roads 
through  the  States  already  organized,  instead  of  exporting  hundreds  of 
thousands  to  California,  and  then  squandering  our  resources  in  the  prema¬ 
ture  effort  to  make  a  road  by  which  to  communicate  with  them. 

It  is  time  for  the  cotton  planter  to  look  this  question  full)'-  in  the  face. 
Had  he  a  market,  he  could  in  a  brief  period  increase  the  crop  to  5,000,000 
of  bales.  Having  no  market,  he  is  compelled  to  limit  the  cultivation,  and 
thus  it  is  that  the  product  of  such  a  region  as  South  Alabama  does  not  in¬ 
crease.  In  1839  it  yielded,  hales,  .....  551,000 

From  1845  to  the  present  time  the  average  has  been  only  440,000* 

The  people  who  should  be  raising  cotton,  or  making  iron,  are  perpetually 
on  the  move,  producing  nothing.  The  picture  presented  in  the  following 
paragraph,  taken  from  one  of  the  papers  of  the  day,  is  the  one  that  meets 
our  eyes  look  where  we  may : — 

“  The  tide  of  emigration  continues  to  pour  through  our  city  southward  and  westward 
with  increasing  volume.  The  rush  is  tremendous.  Throughout  the  day,  from  early  dawn 
until  late  at  night,  long  trains  of  wagons,  families,  and  forces  are  seen  moving  through 
our  streets.  Both  our  ferries  are  kept  in  continual  operation.  Mr.  Fairhurst,  one  of  the 
proprietors  of  the  lower  ferry,  has  kept  a  memorandum  of  the  movers  crossing  at  that 
point  during  the  last  two  weeks.  In  that  time  three  hundred  and fifteen  wagons  have  crossed 
the  river,  of  which  number  214  were  bound  for  Texas,  89  for  the  southern  counties  of 
our  own  State,  and  12  for  Louisiana.  It  is  estimated  that,  counting  whites  and  blacks, 
there  are  about  five  persons  to  each  wagon.  This  would  show  that  within  the  last  four¬ 
teen  days  about  fifteen  hundred  movers  have  passed  this  one  ferry.  We  have  no  record 
of  the  number  crossing  at  the  upper  ferry,  but  if  it  is  as  large  as  the  lower,  the  number 
of  movers  passing  through  our  city  during  the  present  month  will  be  about  six  thousand /” 
— Little  Rock  ( Arkansas )  Democrat ,  Nov.  16. 

Those  men  are  flying  from  the  rich  and  unoccupied  soils  of  lower  Caro¬ 
lina  and  South  Alabama  to  the  high  lands  of  Arkansas  and  Texas,  thus  in¬ 
creasing  their  necessity  for  transportation,  and  diminishing  their  power  to 
obtain  it.  Let  them  fly  as  they  may,  they  cannot  fly  so  fast  as  to  prevent 
the  increase  of  the  cotton  crop,  the  average  of  which  must  soon  stand  at 
3,000,000  of  bales  ;  but  where  then  shall  the  planter  find'a  market  ?  Among 
the  sugar  planters  of  the  world  ?  Like  himself,  they  are  ruined  for  want 
of  a  market.  Among  the  coffee  growers  ?  Like  himself,  they  are  ruined 
for  want  of  a  market.  Among  the  wheat  growers  1  The  Russian  wastes 
his  crop  for  want  of  a  market,  and  the  American  is  competing  with  him  for 
the  possession  of  that  of  England,  while  the  Englishman  is  ruined  by  com¬ 
petition  with  both.f  Is  it  among  the  operatives  of  England  ?  They  are 


*  De  Bow’s  Commercial  Review,  Yol.  VII.  page  446.  * 

•fThe  following  passage  from  one  of  the  journals  of  the  day,  presents  a  tolerably  cor¬ 
rect  view  of  the  course  of  things  in  Great  Britain.  The  producers  are  being  ruined,  and 
all  are  becoming  consumers,  and  thus  it  is  that  Ireland,  exclusively  agricultural,  furnishes 
a  market  for  food.  It  is  forgotten,  however,  that  every  diminution  in  the  amount  of  pro- 


80 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


endeavouring  to  underwork  the  Hindoo,  and  their  power  to  purchase  cotton 
or  sugar  diminishes  daily.  They  need  a  market  for  their  labour.  Is  it  in 
France?  France  is  always  at  war,  and  produces  little.  Her  consumption 
of  American  cotton  in  1842  and  1843  was  717,000  bales.  In  1846  and 
1847,  only  575,000* 

Look  where  he  may,  he  must  see  that  the  producers  of  the  world  want 
markets,  and  that  for  want  of  them  they  are  becoming  poorer  instead  of 
richer,  and  that  their  power  to  obtain  even  the  machinery  of  production  is 
daily  diminishing,  the  price  of  iron  in  sugar,  coffee,  cotton,  wheat,  indigo,  or 
any  other  of  the  products  of  the  earth,  tending  steadily  upward,  and  yet 
there  is  no  single  commodity  in  the  world  that  would  tend  to  fall  so  steadily, 
but  for  the  existence  of  the  monopoly  system.  The  supply  might  be  in¬ 
creased  to  an  indefinite  amount,  and  with  a  rapidity  far  exceeding  that  of 
any  otherof  the  products  of  the  earth.  Make  a  market  for  it  requiring  annually 
10,000,000  of  tons,  and  this  country  could  supply  it  in  ten  years.  Double 
or  treble  it,  and  we  could  supply  the  whole  in  reasonable  time,  for  our  ca¬ 
pacity  is  without  limit,  and  we  could  command  the  services  of  half  the 
labourers  of  Europe.  Here  it  is,  and  here  alone ,  that  the  planter  can  look 
for  a  market  capable  of  expanding  itself  in  the  ratio  of  the  increase  in  his 
power  to  furnish  supplies.  Here,  and  here  alone,  can  the  market  for  coffee, 
silk,  indigo,  and  all  other  of  the  products  of  the  world  be  so  far  enlarged  as 
to  enable  the  coffee  planter,  and  the  cultivator  of  silk  and  indigo  to  quadruple 
their  consumption  of  cotton. 

CHAPTER  ELEVENTH. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  THE  LANDOWNER. 

The  great  saving  fund  is  the  land,  and  it  is  by  the  almost  insensible 
contribution  of  labour  that  it  acquires  value.  The  first  object  of  the  poor 
cultivator  of  the  thin  soils  is  to  obtain  food  and  clothing  for  himself  and  his 
family.  His  leisure  is  given  to  the  work  of  improvement.  At  one  place 
he  cuts  a  little  drain,  and  at  another  he  roots  out  a  stump.  At  one  moment 
he  cuts  fuel  for  his  family,  and  thus  clears  his  land,  and  at  another  digs 

duction  diminishes  the  amount  of  commodities  that  can  be  given  as  the  equivalent  of  the 
products  of  others,  and  that  those  who  buy  food  have  little  to  give  for  clothing,  and  must 
go  in  rags: — 

“  The  prospect  of  an  Irish  demand  for  corn  is  improving,  and  also  that  the  dependence 
of  England,  on  foreign  supplies,  will  gradually  increase.  The  land  monopoly  of  England, 
by  adding  the  item  of  rent  to  be  paid  by  the  Occupier  and  producer,  made  requisite  a  tax 
on  the  foreign  article,  which  should  protect  him  against  the  proprietary  producers  abroad, 
who  had  no  rent  to  pay.  The  removal  of  this  tax  has  now  thrown  directly  upon  the 
English  farmer  the  whole  burden  of  his  rent,  which  was  before  borne  by  all  consumers 
of  bread.  This  burden  will  be  enhanced,  by  the  abrogation  of  the  navigation  laws, 
which,  by  diminishing  freights,  will  make  the  competition  between  the  cheap  rentless 
lands  of  other  countries,  and  the  landlord-burdened  soil  of  England,  more  severe,  and,  as 
a  consequence,  much  of  the  poorer  soils  will  be  abandoned,  while  the  expensive  system 
of  culture  before  resorted  to,  to  increase  the  quantity  of  protected  corn,  must  be  relin¬ 
quished  as  unprofitable.  A  considerable  diminution  in  the  product  of  a  good  English 
harvest,  as  compared  with  former  years,  may  then  freely  be  looked  for.  We  have  given 
above  an  official  table,  of  the  quantity  of  food  taken  for  consumption  in  England,  for  the 
year  ending  August,  1849.  That  was  in  aid  of  the  harvest  of  1848,  which  was  “good,” 
but  the  acreable  product,  from  causes  alluded,  could  not  have  been  as  large  as  usual. 
The  result  of  this  is,  that  the  small  farmers,  with  small  crops  at  low  prices,  cannot  meet 
tithes,  taxes,  poor  rates,  and  rent,  the  last  the  most  onerous ;  and  their  capital  and  num¬ 
bers  are  annually  diminishing,  swelling  the  numbers  of  bread-consumers  in  other  em¬ 
ployments.” 

*  Merchants’  Magazine,  Vol.  XVII.  page  562. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


81 


a  well  to  facilitate  the  watering  of  his  cattle,  and  thus  keep  his  manure  in 
the  stable-yard.  He  knows  that  the  machine  will  feed  him  better  the  more 
perfectly  he  fashions  it,  and  that  there  is  always  place  for  his  time  and  his 
labour  to  be  expended  with  advantage  to  himself. 

The  land  was  given  to  man  for  his  use,  and  the  basis  of  the  whole  science 
of  political  economy  is  to  be  found  in  the  law  which  governs  his  relation 
with  this  great  and  only  machine  of  production.  Mr.  Ricardo  taught  that 
in  the  infancy  of  society  men  could  command  rich  soils,  from  which  they 
could  obtain  an  abundant  supply  of  food  ;  but  that  with  the  growth  of  popu¬ 
lation  food  became  more  scarce,  producing  a  necessity  for  dispersion  in 
quest  of  those  rich  soils.  The  common  sense  of  mankind  teaches  the 
contrary,  and  in  this  case,  as  in  all  others,  the  common  sense  of  the  many 
is  right,  while  the  uncommon  sense  of  the  few  is  wrong,  as  will  be  seen  by 
all  who  will  take  the  trouble  to  follow  out  the  following  sketch*  of  the 
gradual  occupation  of  the  earth : — 

“  The  first  cultivator  commences  his  operations  on  the  hill-side.  Below 
him  are  lands  upon  which  have  been  carried,  by  force  of  water,  the  richer 
portions  of  those  above,  as  well  as  the  leaves  of  trees,  and  the  fallen  trees 
themselves ;  all  of  which  have  there,  from  time  immemorial,  rotted  and 
become  incorporated  with  the  earth,  and  thus  have  been  produced  soils 
fitted  to  yield  the  largest  returns  to  labour:  yet  for  this  reason  are  they 
inaccessible.  Their  character  exhibits  itself  in  the  enormous  trees  with 
which  they  are  covered,  and  in  their  power  of  retaining  the  water  necessary 
to  aid  the  process  of  decomposition  ;  but  the  poor  settler  wants  the  power 
either  to  clear  them  of  their  timber,  or  to  drain  them  of  the  superfluous 
moisture.  He  begins  on  the  hill-side ;  but  ht  the  next  step  we  find  him 
descending  the  hill,  and  obtaining  larger  returns  to  labour.  He  has  more 
food  for  himself,  and  he  has  now  the  means  of  feeding  a  horse  or  an  ox. 
Aided  by  the  manure  that  is  thus  yielded  to  him  by  the  better  lands,  we  see 
him  next  retracing  his  steps,  improving  the  hill-side,  and  compelling  it  to 
yield  a  return  double  that  which  he  at  first  obtained.  With  each  step  down 
the  hill  he  obtains  still  larger  reward  for  his  labour,  and  at  each  he  returns, 
with  increased  power,  to  the  cultivation  of  the  original  poor  soil.  He  has 
now  horses  and  oxen,  and  while  by  their  aid  he  extracts  from  the  new  soils 
the  manure  that  had  accumulated  for  ages,  he  has  also  carts  and  wagons  to 
carry  it  up  the  hill:  and  at  each  step  his  reward  is  increased,  while  his 
labours  are  lessened.  He  goes  back  to  the  sand  and  raises  the  marl,  with 
which  he  covers  the  surface ;  or  he  returns  to  the  clay  and  sinks  into  the 
limestone,  by  aid  of  which  he  doubles  its  product.  He  is  all  the  time  mak¬ 
ing  a  machine  which  feeds  him  while  he  makes  it,  and  which  increases  in 
its  powers  the  more  he  takes  from  it.  .  At  first  it  was  worthless.  It  has 
fed  and  clothed  him  for  years,  and  now  it  has  a  large  value,  and  those  who 
might  desire  to  use  it  would  pay  him  a  large  rent. 

“  The  earth  is  a  great  machine,  given  to  man  to  be  fashioned  to  his  pur¬ 
pose.  The  more  he  fashions  it  the  better  it  feeds  him,  because  each  step 
is  but  preparatory  to  a  new  one  more  productive  than  the  last ;  requiring 
less  labour  and  yielding  larger  return.  The  labour  of  clearing  is  great,  yet 
the  return  is  small.  The  earth  is  covered  with  stumps,  and  filled  with  roots. 
With  each  year  the  roots  decay  and  the  ground  becomes  enriched,  while 
the  labour  of  ploughing  is  diminished.  At  length  the  stumps  disappear, 
and  the  return  is  doubled,  while  the  labour  is  less  by  one-half  than  at  first. 
To  forward  this  process  the  owner  has  done  nothing  but  crop  the  ground: 
nature  having  done  the  rest.  The  aid  he  thus  obtains  from  her  yields  him 


*  Originally  published  in  my  book.  «  The  Past,  the  Present,  and  the  Future.” 


82 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


as  much  food  as  in  the  outset  was  obtained  by  the  labour  of  felling  and  de¬ 
stroying  the  trees.  This,  however,  is  not  all.  The  surplus  thus  yielded 
has  given  him  means  for  improving  the  poorer  lands  by  furnishing  manure 
with  which  to  enrich  them,  and  thus  he  has  trebled  his  original  return 
without  further  labour ;  for  that  which  he  saves  in  working  the  new  soils 
suffices  to  carry  the  manure  to  the  old  ones.  He  is  obtaining  a  daily  in¬ 
creased  power  over  the  various  treasures  of  the  earth. 

“With  every  operation  connected  with  the  fashioning  of  the  earth,  the 
result  is  the  same.  The  first  step  is,  invariably,  the  most  costly  one,  and 
the  least  productive.  The  first  drain  commences  near  the  stream,  where 
the  labour  is  heaviest.  It  frees  from  water  but  a  few  acres.  A  little  higher, 
the  same  quantity  of  labour,  profiting  by  what  has  been  already  done,  frees 
twice  the  number.  Again  the  number  is  doubled,  and  now  the  most  perfect 
system  of  thorough  drainage  may  be  established  with  less  labour  than  was 
at  first  required  for  one  of  the  most  imperfect  kind.  To  bring  the  lime 
into  connection  with  the  clay,  upon  fifty  acres,  is  lighter  labour  than  was  the 
clearing  of  a  single  one,  yet  the  process  doubles  the  return  for  each  acre  of 
the  fifty.  The  man  who  wants  a  little  fqel  for  his  own  use,  expends  much 
labour  in  opening  the  neighbouring  vein  of  coal.  To  enlarge  this,  so  as 
to  double  the  product,  is  a  work  of  comparatively  small  labour ;  as  is  the 
next  enlargement,  by  which  he  is  enabled  to  use  a  drift  wagon,  giving  him 
a  return  fifty  times  greater  than  was  obtained  when  he  used  only  his  arms, 
or  a  wheelbarrow.  To  sink  a  shaft  to  the  first  vein  helow  the  surface,  and 
erect  a  steam-engine, are  expensive  operations;  but  these  once  accomplished 
every  future  step  becomes  more  productive,  while  less  costly.  To  sink  to 
the  next  vein  below  and  to  tunnel  to  another,  are  trifles  in  comparison  with 
the  first,  yet  each  furnishes  a  return  equally  large.  The  first  line  of  rail¬ 
road  runs  by  houses  and  towns  occupied  by  one  or  two  hundred  thousand 
persons.  Half  a  dozen  little  branches,  costing  together  far  less  labour  than 
the  first,  bring  into  connexion  with  it  three  hundred  thousand,  or  perhaps 
half  a  million.  The  trade  increases,  and  a  second  track,  a  third,  or  a  fourth, 
may  be  required.  The  original  one  facilitates  the  passage  of  the  materials 
and  the  removal  of  obstructions,  and  three  new  ones  may  now  be  made  with 
less  labour  than  was  required  for  the  first. 

“  All  labour  thus  expended  in  fashioning  the  great  machine,  is  but  the 
prelude  to  the  application  of  further  labour  with  still  increased  returns. 
With  each  such  application  wages  rise,  and  hence  it  is  that  portions  of  the 
machine,  as  it  exists,  invariably  exchange,  when  brought  to  market,  for  far 
less  labour  than  they  have  cost.  The  man  who  cultivated  the  thin  soils 
was  happy  to  obtain  a  hundred  bushels  for  his  year’s  work.  With  the  pro¬ 
gress  of  himself  and  his  neighbour  down  the  hill  into  the  more  fertile  soils, 
wages  have  risen,  and  two  hundred  bushels  are  now  required.  His  farm 
will  yield  a  thousand  bushels;  but  it  requires  the  labour  of  four  men,  who 
must  have  two  hundred  bushels  each,  and  the  surplus  is  but  two  hundred 
bushels.  At  twenty  years’  purchase  this  gives  a  capital  of  four  thousand 
bushels,  or  the  equivalent  of  twenty  years’  wrages;  whereas  it  has  cost,  in 
the  labour  of  himself,  his  sons,  and  his  assistants,  the  equivalent  of  a  hun¬ 
dred  years  of  labour,  or  perhaps  far  more.  During  all  this  time,  however, 
it  has  fed  and  clothed  them  all,  and  the  farm  has  been  produced  by  the 
insensible  contributions  made  from  year  to  year,  unthought  of  and  unfelt. 

“  It  is  now  worth  twenty  years’  wages,  because  its  owner  has  for  years 
taken  from  it  a  thousand  bushels  annually ;  but  when  it  had  lain  for  cen¬ 
turies  accumulating  wealth,  it  was  worth  nothing.  Such  is  the  case  with 
the  earth  everywhere.  The  more  that  is  taken  from  it,  the  more  there  is 
left.  When  the  coal  mines  of  England  were  untouched,  they  were  valueless. 


THE  HA.RMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


83 


Now  their  value  is  almost  countless ;  yet  the  land  contains  abundant  sup¬ 
plies  for  thousands  of  years.  Iron  ore,  a  century  since,  was  a  drug,  and 
leases  were  granted  at  almost  nominal  rents.  Now,  such  leases  are  deemed 
equivalent  to  the  possession  of  large  fortunes,  notwithstanding  the  great 
quantities  that  have  been  removed,  although  the  amount  of  ore  now  known 
to  exist  is  probably  fifty  times  greater  than  it  was  then. 

“  The  earth  is  the  sole  producer.  Man  fashions  and  exchanges.  A  part 
of  his  labour  is  applied  to  the  fashioning  of  the  great  machine,  and  this 
produces  changes  that  are  permanent.  The  drain,  once  cut,  remains  a 
drain ;  and  the  limestone,  once  reduced  to  lime,  never  again  becomes  lime¬ 
stone.  It  passes  into  the  food  of  man  and  animals,  and  ever  after  takes  its 
part  in  the  same  round  with  the  clay  with  which  it  has  been  incorporated. 
The  iron  rusts  and  gradually  passes  into  soil,  to  take  its  part  with  the  clay 
and  the  lime.  That  portion  of  his  labour  gives  him  wages  while  preparing 
the  machine  for  greater  future  production.  That  other  portion  which  he 
expends  on  fashioning  and  exchanging  the  products  of  the  machine,  pro¬ 
duces  temporary  results,  and  gives  him  wages  alone.  Whatever  tends, 
therefore,  to  diminish  the  quantity  of  labour  necessary  for  the  fashioning 
and  exchanging  of  the  products,  tends  to  increase  the  quantity  that  may  be 
given  to  increasing  the  amount  of  products,  and  to  preparing  the  great 
machine;  and  thus,  while  increasing  the  present  return  to  labour,  preparing 
for  a  future  further  increase. 

“  The  first  poor  cultivator  obtains  a  hundred  bushels  for  his  year’s  wages. 
To  pound  this  between  two  stones  requires  twenty  days  of  labour,  and  the 
work  is  not  half  done.  Had  he  a  mill  in  the  neighbourhood  he  would  have 
better  dour,  and  he  would  have  almost  his  whole  twenty  days  to  bestow 
upon  his  land.  He  pulls  up  his  grain.  Had  he  a  scythe,  he  would  have 
more  time  for  the  preparation  of  the  machine  of  production.  He  loses  his 
axe,  and  it  requires  days  of  himself  and  his  horse  on  the  road,  to  obtain 
another.  His  machine  loses  the  time  and  the  manure,  both  of  which  would 
have  been  saved,  had  the  axe-maker  been  at  hand.  The  real  advantage 
derived  from  the  mill  and  the  scythe,  and  from  the  proximity  of  the  axe- 
maker,  consists  simply  in  the  power  which  they  afford  him  to  devote  his 
labour  more  and  more  to  the  preparation  of  the  great  machine  of  production, 
and  such  is  the  case  with  all  the  machinery  of  preparation  and  exchange. 
The  plough  enables  him  to  do  as  much  in  one  day  as  with  a  spade  he  could 
do  in  five.  He  saves  four  days  for  drainage.  The  steam-engine  drains  as 
much  as  without  it  could  be  drained  by  thousands  of  days  of  labour.  He 
has  more  leisure  to  marl  or  lime  his  land.  The  more  he  can  extract  from 
his  machine  the  greater  is  its  value,  because  every  thing  he  takes  is,  b}r  the 
very  act  of  taking  it,  fashioned  to  aid  further  production.  The  machine, 
therefore,  improves  by  use ;  whereas  spades,  and  ploughs,  and  steam-engines, 
and  all  other  of  the  machines  used  by  man,  are  but  the  various  forms  into 
which  he  fashions  parts  of  the  great  original  machine,  to  disappear  in  the 
act  of  being  used ;  as  much  so  as  food,  though  not  so  rapidly.  The  earth 
is  the  great  labour  savings’  bank,  and  the  value  to  man  of  all  other  machines 
is  in  the  direct  ratio  of  their  tendency  to  aid  him  in  increasing  his  deposits 
in  the  only  bank  whose  dividends  are  perpetually  increasing,  while  its 
capital  is  perpetually  doubling.  That  it  may  continue  for  ever  so  to  do,  all 
that  it  asks  is  that  it  shall  receive  back  the  refuse  of  its  produce,  the  ma¬ 
nure  ;  and  that  it  may  do  so,  the  consumer  and  the  producer  must  take  their 
places  by  each  other.  That  done,  every  change  that  is  effected  becomes 
permanent,  and  tends  to  facilitate  other  and  greater  changes.  The  whole 
business  of  the  farmer  consists  in  making  and  improving  soils,  and  the  earth 


84 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


rewards  him  for  his  kindness  by  giving  him  more  and  more  food  the  more 
attention  he  bestows  upon  her. 

The  solitary  settler  has  to  occupy  the  spots  that,  with  his  rude  machinery, 
he  can  cultivate.  Having  neither  horse  nor  cart,  he  carries  home  his  crop 
upon  his  shoulders,  as  is  now  done  in  many  parts  of  India.  He  carries  a 
hide  to  the  place  of  exchange,  distant,  perhaps,  fifty  miles,  to  obtain  for  it 
leather  or  shoes.  Population  increases,  and  roads  are  made.  More  fertile 
soils  are  cultivated.  The  store  and  the  mill  come  nearer  to  him,  and  he 
obtains  shoes  and  flour  with  the  use  of  less  machinery  of  exchange.  He 
has  more  leisure  for  the  preparation  of  his  great  machine,  and  the  returns 
to  labour  increase.  More  people  now  obtain  food  from  the  same  surface, 
and  new  places  of  exchange  appear.  The  wool  is,  on  the  spot,  converted 
into  cloth,  and  he  exchanges  directly  with  the  clothier.  The  saw-mill  is  at 
hand,  and  he  exchanges  with  the  sawyer.  The  tanner  gives  him  leather 
for  his  hides,  and  the  paper-maker  gives  him  paper  for  his  rags.  With 
each  of  these  changes  he  has  more  and  more  of  both  time  and  manure  to 
devote  to  the  preparation  of  the  great  food-making  machine,  and  with  each 
year  the  returns  are  larger.  His  poiver  to  command  the  use  of  the  ma¬ 
chinery  of  exchange  increases,  but  his  necessity  therefor  diminishes ;  for 
with  each  year  there  is  an  increasing  tendency  towards  having  the  consumer 
placed  side  by  side  with  the  producer;  and  with  each  he  can  devote  more 
and  more  of  his  time  and  mind  to  the  business  of  fashioning  the  great  instru¬ 
ment  ;  and  thus  the  increase  of  consuming  population  is  essential  to  the 
progress  of  production. 

“  The  loss  from  the  use  of  machinery  of  exchange  is  in  the  ratio  of  the 
bulk  of  the  article  to  be  exchanged.  Food  stands  first;  fuel,  next;  stone 
for  building,  third;  iron,  fourth;  cotton,  fifth;  and  so  on;  diminishing  until 
we  come  to  laces  and  nutmegs.  The  raw  material  is  that  in  the  production 
of  which  the  earth  has  most  co-operated,  and  by  the  production  of  which 
the  land  is  most  improved;  and  the  nearer  the  place  of  exchange  or  con¬ 
version  can  be  brought  to  the  place  of  production,  the  less  is  the  loss  in  the 
process,  and  the  greater  the  power  of  accumulating  wealth  for  the  produc¬ 
tion  of  further  wealth. 

“  The  man  who  raises  food  on  his  own  land  is  building  up  the  machine 
for  doing  so  to  more  advantage  in  the  following  year.  His  neighbour,  to 
whom  it  is  given ,  on  condition  of  sitting  still,  loses  a  year’s  work  on  his 
machine,  and  all  he  has  gained  is  the  pleasure  of  doing  nothing.  If  he  has 
employed  himself  and  his  horses  and  wagon  in  bringing  it  home,  the  same 
number  of  days  that  would  have  been  required  for  raising  it,  he  has  misem¬ 
ployed  his  time,  for  his  farm  is  unimproved.  He  has  wasted  labour  and  ma¬ 
nure.  As  nobody,  however,  gives,  it  is  obvious  that  the  man  who  has  a  farm 
and  obtains  his  food  elsewhere,  must  pay  for  raising  it,  and  pay  also  for  trans¬ 
porting  it ;  and  that  although  he  may  have  obtained  as  good  wages  in  some 
other  pursuit,  his  farm,  instead  of  having  been  improved  by  a  year’s 
cultivation,  is  worse  by  a  year’s  neglect;  and  that  he  is  a  poorer  man  than 
he  would  have  been  had  he  raised  his  own  food. 

“  The  article  of  next  greatest  bulk  is  fuel.  While  warming  his  house,  he 
is  clearing  his  land.  He  would  lose  by  sitting  idle,  if  his  neighbour  brought 
his  fuel  to  him,  and  still  more  if  he  had  to  spend  the  same  time  in  hauling 
it,  because  he  would  be  wearing  out  his  wagon  and  losing  the  manure.  Were 
he  to  hire  himself  and  his  wagon  to  another  for  the  same  quantity  of  fuel 
he  could  have  cut  on  his  own  property,  he  would  be  a  loser,  for  his  farm 
would  be  uncleared. 

“  If  he  take  the  stone  from  his  own  fields  to  build  his  house,  he  gains 
doubly.  His  house  is  built,  and  his  land  is  cleared.  If  he  sit  still  and  let 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


85 


his  neighbour  bring  him  stone,  he  loses,  for  his  fields  remain  unfit  for  cul¬ 
tivation.  If  he  work  equally  hard  for  a  neighbour,  and  receive  the  same 
apparent  wages,  he  is  a  loser  by  the  fact  that  he  has  yet  to  remove  the 
stones,  and  until  they  shall  be  removed  he  cannot  cultivate  his  land. 

“  With  every  improvement  in  the  machinery  of  exchange  there  is  a  dimi¬ 
nution  in  the  proportion  which  that  machinery  bears  to  the  mass  of  produc¬ 
tion,  because  of  the  extraordinary  increase  of  product  consequent  upon  the 
increased  power  of  applying  labour  to  building  up  the  great  machine.  It 
is  a  matter  of  daily  observation  that  the  demand  for  horses  and  men  increases 
as  railroads  drive  them  from  the  turnpikes,  and  the  reason  is,  that  the  farmer’s 
means  of  improving  his  land  increase  more  rapidly  than  men  and  horses 
for  his  work.  The  man  who  has,  thus  far,  sent  to  market  his  half-fed  cattle, 
accompanied  by  horses  and  men  to  drive  them,  and  wagons  and  horses 
loaded  with  hay  or  turnips  with  which  to  feed  them  on  the  road,  and  to  fat¬ 
ten  them  when  at  market;  now  fattens  them  on  the  ground,  and  sends  them 
by  railroad  ready  for  the  slaughter-house.  His  use  of  the  machinery  of 
exchange  is  diminished  nine-tenths.  He  keeps  his  men,  his  horses  and  his 
wagons,  and  the  refuse  of  his  hay  or  turnips,  at  home.  The  former  are 
employed  in  ditching  and  draining,  while  the  latter  fertilizes  the  soil  here¬ 
tofore  cultivated.  His  production  doubles,  and  he  accumulates  rapidly, 
while  the  people  around  him  have  more  to  eat,  more  to  spend  in  clothing, 
and  accumulate  more  themselves.  He  wants  labourers  in  the  field,  and 
they  want  clothes  and  houses.  The  shoemaker  and  the  carpenter,  finding 
that  there  exists  a  demand  for  their  labour,  now  join  the  community,  eating 
the  food  on  the  ground  on  which  it  is  produced;  and  thus  the  machinery  of 
exchange  is  improved,  while  the  quantity  required  is  diminished.  The 
quantity  of  flour  consumed  on  the  spot  induces  the  miller  to  come  and  eat 
his  share,  while  preparing  that  of  others.  The  labour  of  exchanging  is 
diminished,  and  more  is  given  to  the  land,  and  the  lime  is  now  turned  up. 
Tons  of  turnips  are  obtained  from  the  same  surface  that  before  gave  bushels 
of  rye.  The  quantity  to  be  consumed  increases  faster  than  the  population, 
and  more  mouths  are  needed  on  the  spot,  and  next  the  woollen  mill  comes. 
The  wool  no  longer  requires  wagons  and  horses,  which  now  are  turned  to 
transporting  coal,  to  enable  the  farmer  to  dispense  with  his  woods,  and  to 
reduce  to  cultivation  the  fine  soil  that  has,  for  centuries,  produced  nothing 
but  timber.  Production  again  increases,  and  the  new  wrealth  now  takes  the 
form  of  the  cotton-mill ;  and,  with  every  step  in  the  progress,  the  farmer 
finds  new  demands  on  the  great  machine  he  has  constructed,  accompanied 
with  increased  power  on  his  part  to  build  it  up  higher  and  stronger,  and  to 
sink  its  foundations  deeper.  He  now  supplies  beef  and  mutton,  wheat,  but¬ 
ter,  eggs,  poultry,  cheese,  and  every  other  of  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of 
life,  for  which  the  climate  is  suited;  and  from  the  same  land  which  afforded, 
when  his  father  or  grandfather  first  commenced  cultivation  on  the  light  soil 
of  the  hills,  scarcely  sufficient  rye  or  barley  to  support  life.” 

If  we  undertake  to  study  anywhere  the  cause  of  value  in  land,  it  will  be 
found  to  result  from  diminution  in  the  cost  of  transportation.  The  news¬ 
papers  of  the  day,  in  speaking  of  the  operations  of  the  railroad  recently 
constructed  from  Springfield  (Illinois)  to  the  Illinois  river,  tell  us  that 

“  One  week  before  the  railroad  was  finished,  corn  could  be  had  here  in  any  quantity, 
at  15  cents  a  bushel.  Not  a  bushel  can  now,”  says  the  Saugamon  Journal,  “be  had  for 
less  than  25  cents.  This,”  it  adds,  “is  the  effect  of  the  completion  of  the  railroad  on  the 
price  of  one  article  of  the  products  of  our  farmers.” 

The  first  thing  to  be  paid  by  land  is  transportation.  When  that  is  so 
great  as  to  eat  up  the  whole  proceeds,  the  land  will  remain  uncultivated. 


86 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


Diminish  the  cost  of  transportation  so  as  to  leave  sufficient  to  pay  the  wages 
of  labour,  and  it  will  be  cultivated,  but  it  will  pay  no  rent.  Diminish  it 
further,  so  as  to  leave  a  surplus  over  and  above  the  reward  of  the  labourer, 
and  the  land  itself  will  acquire  value.  Diminish  it  still  further,  by  removing 
altogether  the  necessity  for  transportation,  making  a  market  on  the  land  for 
all  the  products  of  the  land,  enabling  the  farmer  readily  to  return  to  it  all 
the  refuse  of  its  products,  and  it  will  acquire  the  highest  value  of  which 
land  is  capable.  The  commodity  of  which  the  government  and  people  of 
the  Union  have  most  to  sell  is  land.  In  quantity  it  is  practically  unlimited, 
and  long  before  our  present  territory  shall  have  been  even  laid  out  for  sale, 
vast  countries  will  have  been  brought  within  the  limits  of  the  Union.  In 
quality  it  is  entitled  to  stand  first  in  the  world.  The  area  of  the  coal 
region  is  133,000  square  miles.  Iron  ore  is  everywhere,  untouched.  Copper, 
zinc,  and  almost  all  other  metals  abound.  South  Carolina  has  millions  of 
acres  of  the  finest  meadow-land  unoccupied,  and  she  has  lime  and  iron  ore 
in  unlimited  abundance.  Virginia  is  in  a  similar  condition,  and  yet  people 
are  leaving  both,  when  population  is  all  that  is  needed  to  place  them  in  the 
first  rank  among  the  States  of  the  Union  in  point  of  wealth.  Of  the  three 
States  of  Alabama,  Louisiana,  and  Mississippi,  with  advantages  unrivalled 
for  the  production  of  the  great  clothing  material  of  the  world,  two-thirds 
of  their  whole  surface,  or  83,000,000  of  acres,  yet  remain  unsold.  The  land 
at  the  command  of  the  government  counts  by  hundreds  of  millions,  and  to 
give  to  ail  this  value  we  need  only  population. 

In  Europe,  on  the  contrary,  population  is  held  to  be  superabundant. 
Marriage  is  regarded  as  a  luxury,  not  to  be  indulged  in,  lest  it  should  result 
in  increase  of  numbers.  “  Every  one,”  it  is  said,  “  has  a  right  to  live,”  but 
this  being  granted,  it  is  added  that  “no  one  has  a  right  to  bring  creatures 
into  life  to  be  supported  by  other  people.”*  Poor  laws  are  denounced,  as 
tending  to  promote  increase  of  population — as  a  machine  for  supporting  those 
who  do  not  work  “out  of  the  earnings  of  those  who  do.”t  No  man,  it  is 
thought,  has  “a  right”  to  claim  to  have  a  seat  at  the  great  table  provided  by 
the  Creator  for  all  mankind,  or  that  “  if  he  is  willing  to  work  he  must  be 
fed.”  Labour  is  held  to  be  a  mere  “commodity,”  and  if  the  labourer  can¬ 
not  sell  it,  he  has  no  “  right”  but  to  starve — himself,  his  wife,  and  his  chil¬ 
dren.  “  The  particular  tendency  to  error  apparent  in  the  prevalent  social 
philosophy  of  the  day,”  to  which  it  is  deemed  necessary  to  direct  special 
attention,  is  “the  unsound,  exaggerated,  and  somewhat  maudlin  tenderness 
with  which  it  is  now  the  fashion  to  regard  paupers  and  criminals. Such 
are  the  doctrines  of  the  free-trade  school  of  England,  in  which  Political 
Economy  is  held  to  be  limited  to  an  examination  of  the  laws  which  regulate 
the  production  of  wealth,  without  reference  to  either  morals  or  intellect.  Under 
such  teaching  it  is  matter  of  small  surprise  that  pauperism  and  crime  in¬ 
crease  at  a  rate  so  rapid. § 

Throughout  Europe,  men  are  held  in  low  esteem.  They  are  considered 
to  be  surplus,  and  the  sooner  they  can  be  expelled  the  better  it  will  be  for 
those  who  can  afford  to  remain  behind.  To  accomplish  this  object,  Coloniza¬ 
tion  Societies  are  formed,  and  Parliament  is  memorialized  by  men  who  desire 
to  export  their  fellow-men  by  hundreds  of  thousands  annually.  Whig  and 
Tory  journals||  unite  in  urging  the  necessity  for  expelling  man  from  the 


*  J.  S.  Mill’s  Principles  of  Political  Economy, 
f  Edinburgh  Review,  October,  1849.  \  Ibid. 

4  See  article  on  Transportation,  Blackwood’s  Magazine,  November,  1849. 

||  The  number  of  Blackwood’s  Magazine,  just  received,  advocates  the  application  of 
£300,000  per  annum  to  this  object. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


87 


land  of  Britain.  Secretaries  of  State  furnish  ingenious  calculations  as  to 
the  amount  required  for  accomplishing  the  work  of  expulsion.  On  all 
hands,  it  is  agreed  that  men  are  too  numerous,  and  that  their  numbers  grow 
too  fast,  and  yet  there  is  not  a  country  in  Europe  that  can  justly  complain 
of  over-population.  Ireland,  the  type  of  this  free-trade  system,  has  millions  of 
acres  of  her  richest  lands  as  yet  untouched,  that  would  alone,  if  drained, 
yield  food  in  abundance  for  the  whole  population. 

It  is  not,  however,  the  labourer  alone  that  stands  in  need  of  aid.  The 
condition  of  the  land-owner  is  little  better.  This  system  of  universal  discord 
is  thus  described  in  one  of  the  journals  of  the  day: 

«  The  state  of  the  country  is  frightful.  The  assassinations  are  computed  at  more  than  ten 
per  week,  half  a  hundred  per  month,  which,  added  to  the  systematic  starvation  of  almost 
another  hundred,  in  the  same  time,  gives  a  state  of  things  without  parallel  in  modem 
civilization.  With  this  diminution  of  the  people,  the  million  of  work-house  inmates  and 
dependents  increases.  In  less  than  a  month  it  will  be  more  than  a  proprietor's  life  is 
worth  to  be  seen  by  his  tenantry.  Rents,  which  of  course  are  nominal  in  collection,  have, 
therefore,  lately  sunk  to  the  fourth  of  their  nominal  amount.  Lands,  let  hitherto  at  £2 
10s.  per  acre,  are  offered  at  less  than  15s;  and  such  is  the  exasperation  of  the  starving 
millions,  that  the  landlords  are  afraid  further  to  aggravate  their  sufferings.” 

The  Parliament  of  England  is  now  engaged  in  passing  laws  to  transfer, 
for  the  fourth  time  in  little  more  than  two  centuries,  the  mass  of  Irish  pro¬ 
perty  to  English  undertakers.  The  little  cultivator  of  land  has  been 
ruined.  Labour  has  become  utterly  valueless,  although  labour  alone  is 
needed  to  bring  into  cultivation  7,000,000  of  acres  of  the  richest  soils  in  the 
world,  now  unproductive. 

The  land-owner  of  India  has  been  ruined.  The  immense  body  of  vil¬ 
lage  proprietors  that  but  half  a  century  since  existed  in  that  country,  helping 
and  governing  themselves,  has  disappeared. 

The  land-owner  of  the  West  Indies — of  Demerara  and  Berbice — has 
been  ruined,  and  the  condition  of  the  labourers  has  not  been  improved. 

The  land-owner  of  Portugal — the  continental  colony  of  Great  Britain — 
has  been  ruined,  and  with  diminished  value  of  land  there  has  been  steady 
deterioration  of  civilization,  until  the  name  of  Portugal  has  become  almost 
synonymous  with  weakness  and  barbarism. 

If  we  look  to  Canada,  Nova  Scotia,  or  New  Brunswick,  the  same  picture 
meets  our  view.  “  Land  of  the  same  quality,  at  one  minute  north  of  the 
imaginary  line  dividing  the  provinces  from  the  Union,  is  worth  less  than 
half  as  much  as  that  which  is  one  minute  south  of  it.  Lord  Durham, 
in  his  report,  made  but  a  few  years  since,  says  that  “land  in  Vermont  and 
New  Hampshire,  close  to  the  line,  is  five  dollars  per  acre,  and  in  the  adjoining 
British  townships,  only  one  dollar,”  and  that  on  the  northern  side  of  the  line, 
with  superior  fertility,  it  is  “  wholly  unsaleable  even  at  such  low  prices.” 
Canada  has  no  market  on  the  land  for  the  products  of  the  land,  and  the  cost 
of  transportation  eats  up  the  product,  much  of  which  is  absolutely  wasted 
because  it  cannot  go  at  all  to  market.  The  labour  of  men,  women,  and 
children,  and  that  of  wagons  and  horses,  is  everywhere  being  wasted,  and 
therefore  it  is  that  the  Canadian  desires  a  change  of  government  that  will 
enable  him  to  obtain  a  protective  tariff.  Give  him  that — annex  him  to  the 
Union — and  his  land  will  acquire  value  similar  to  that  of  the  Union.  Far¬ 
mers  will  then  grow  rich,  and  labourers  will  grow  rich,  and  the  power  to  con¬ 
sume  cloth  and  iron  will  grow  with  the  same  rapidity  with  which  it  re¬ 
cently  grew  with  us. 

Every  colony  of  England  would  gladly  separate  from  her,  feeling  that 
connection  with  her  is  synonymous  with  deterioration  of  condition.  Every 
one  would  gladly  unite  its  fortunes  with  those  of  our  Union,  feeling  that 


88 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


connection  with  us  is  synonymous  with  improvement.  The  reason  for 
all  this  is,  that  the  English  system  is  based  upon  cheap  labour,  and  tends 
to  depress  the  many  for  the  benefit  of  the  few.  In  our  system,  it  is  the 
many  who  govern ;  and  experience  having  taught  them  that  prosperity  and 
free  trade  with  England  are  inconsistent  with  each  other,  we  have  “  free 
trade”  tariffs  with  protective  duties  of  thirty  per  cent.,  and  likely  to  be  in¬ 
creased.  The  colonies  are  ruined  by  free  trade,  and  they  desire  annexation, 
that  they  may  have  protection. 

This  idea  of  cheap  labour  is  universal  among  English  colonists.  It  is 
found  in  all  their  books.  If  they  fail  to  succeed,  it  is  because  labour  is  “too 
high.”  They  are  willing  to  receive  convicts,  because  they  can  be  had 
“cheap.”  They  tell  their  correspondents  that  men  may  be  had  from  the 
Continent  who  will  work  for  small  wages,  while  Englishmen  must  have 
large  ones,  i.  e.  enough  to  feed  and  clothe  themselves  comfortably.  They 
emancipate  the  negroes,  and  then  they  find  their  labour  “  too  dear,”  and 
send  to  India,  or  to  the  coast  of  Africa,  for  “  cheap”  labourers.  The  Times 
informs  us  that  the  great  works  of  England  are  based  upon  an  ample  supply 
of  “  cheap  labour.”  The  whole  system  looks  to  the  degradation  of  the 
labourer,  by  requiring  him  to  underwork  and  supplant  the  labourer  of  other 
countries,  with  all  the  disadvantage  of  distance  and  heavy  cost  of  transporta¬ 
tion.  Protection  looks  to  raising  the  value  of  labour,  and  thus  promoting 
the  annexation  of  individuals,  and  the  establishment  of  perfect  free  trade 
between  ourselves  and  the  people  of  Europe  by  inducing  them  to  transfer 
themselves  to  our  shores.  It  is  a  bounty  on  the  importation  of  the  machine 
we  need — man — to  give  value  to  the  machine  we  have  in  such  abundance 
— land.  It  leads  to  perfect  free  trade — the  annexation  of  nations — by  raising 
the  value  of  man  throughout  the  world. 

It  has  been,  at  times,  matter  of  surprise  that  the  hundreds  of  thousands 
who  have  arrived  in  this  country  have  been  so  instantly  absorbed  that 
their  presence  has  been  unfelt,  and  that  the  more  we  received,  the  larger 
was  the  quantity  of  food,  fuel,  cloth,  and  iron  given  in  exchange  for  labour, 
but  such  is  the  natural  result  of  a  system  which  tends  to  enable  the  miner 
and  the  worker  in  iron,  the  spinner  and  the  weaver,  to  combine  their  exer¬ 
tions  with  those  of  the  farmer  and  planter.  Had  the  policy  of  1828  remained 
unchanged,  and  were  we  now  receiving  a  million  of  men,  the  only  effect 
that  would  be  observed,  would  be  that  wages  and  profits,  and  the  power  of 
labourer,  landowner,  and  capitalist,  to  command  the  good  things  of  life 
would  be  steadily  increasing,  and  with  each  step  forward  the  tendency  to 
immigration  and  to  increase  in  the  value  of  land  would  grow  with  accelerated 
pace.  We  need  population. 

In  the  thorough  adoption  of  this  course  by  the  people  of  the  Union,  is  to 
be  found  the  remedy  of  the  ills  of  both  the  land-owners  and  the  labourers  of 
the  rest  of  the  world,  and  the  removal  of  the  discords  now  so  universal. 
That  we  may  clearly  see  how  it  would  contribute  towards  producing  har¬ 
mony,  we  must  first  inquire  into  the  causes  of  discord. 

The  labourers  of  the  world  have  one  common  interest,  and  that  is  that 
labour  should  become  everywhere  productive  and  valuable.  The  more 
wheat  produced  in  return  to  a  given  quantity  of  labour,  the  more  of  it  will 
the  shoemaker  obtain  for  his  work,  and  the  more  advantageously  the  shoe¬ 
maker  can  apply  his  labour,  the  more  readily  will  the  farmer  provide  him¬ 
self  and  his  family  with  shoes.  Such,  likewise,  is  the  case  with  nations. 
It  is  to  the  interest  of  all  that  labour  in  all  should  become  productive,  and  if 
the  labour  of  the  cotton-growing  nation  become  unproductive,  that  of  the 
sugar  or  wheat-growing  nation  feels  the  effect  in  an  increased  difficulty  of 
obtaining  clothing. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


89 


The  land-owners  of  the  world  have  one  common  interest,  and  that  is,  that 
land  should  everywhere  become  productive  and  valuable.  It  does  so  be¬ 
come  with  every  increase  in  the  skill  and  intelligence  of  the  labourer,  as 
may  be  seen  by  a  comparison  of  times  present  with  times  past  in  every  im¬ 
proving  country,  or  by  a  comparison  of  the  various  countries  of  the  world  at 
the  present  moment.  In  Russia  land  itself  has  little  value.  In  Belgium, 
where  cultivation  is  carried  on  with  intelligence  elsewhere  unknown,  it  has 
great  value. 

Every  increase  in  the  facility  of  obtaining  cloth  for  food,  or  food  for  cotton, 
diminishes  the  quantity  of  labour  to  be  given  for  food  or  clothing,  and  enables 
the  producer  to  obtain  other  commodities  and  things  needed  for  the  improve¬ 
ment  of  his  mind,  or  which  tend  to  enable  him  more  advantageously  to  apply 
his  labour.  The  landed  proprietor  of  England  is  therefore  directly  inte¬ 
rested  in  the  improvement  of  the  mode  of  cultivating  cotton  in  the  United 
States,  because  it  tends  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  man  who  labours  on 
his  land  ;  and  the  cotton-grower  is  interested  in  the  improvement  of  the 
wheat-grower  of  Russia,  because  the  latter  is  thereby  enabled  to  purchase 
more  clothing. 

Among  the  land-owners  and  labourers  of  the  world  there  is,  therefore, 
perfect  harmony  of  interests.  Between  them  stand  the  men  employed  in 
the  work  of  transportation,  conversion  and  exchange — ship-owners,  manu¬ 
facturers,  and  merchants. 

The  object  had  in  view  in  the  prohibition  of  manufactures  in  the  colo¬ 
nies  was  that  of  compelling  the  colonists  to  use  ships  that  they  would  not 
otherwise  require,  and  to  pay  manufacturers  and  merchants  for  doing  for 
them  those  things  that  they  could  have  better  done  themselves.  The 
necessary  consequence  of  this  was  discord,  which  in  our  case  led  to  war, 
and  vast  waste  of  time  and  money.  Another  consequence  was,  that  the 
people  engaged  in  the  work  of  transportation,  conversion,  and  exchange,  in¬ 
creased  more  rapidly  than  the  producers,  and  England,  from  having  food  to 
sell,  became  a  purchaser  of  foreign  food.  Next  came  the  corn-laws,  by 
which  the  importation  of  food  was  to  be  prevented,  for  the  benefit  of  land- 
owners,  and  other  laws  prohibiting  the  export  of  machinery,  for  the  benefit 
of  the  owners  of  ships  and  machinery  of  various  kinds.  By  the  one  the 
owners  of  land  were  enabled  to  tax  the  labourer  and  the  mechanic,  and  by 
the  other  the  mechanic  was  enabled  to  tax  the  world  in  return.  The  effect 
has  been  that  of  preventing  the  application  of  English  labour  and  capital  to 
the  work  of  production,  and  driving  it  into  the  far  less  profitable  work  of 
transportation,  conversion,  and  exchange,  to  such  an  extent  that  the  con¬ 
verters  have  at  length  become  masters  of  the  land-owners,  and  have  abolished 
restrictions  on  the  import  of  food  which  the  latter  had  established  for  their  pro¬ 
tection,  and  as  revolutions  never  go  backward,  we  may  fairly  conclude  that  the 
corn-laws  will  not  be  re-established.  The  result,  thus  far,  has  been  to  ruin 
the  landholders  of  Ireland,  and  the  next  result  must  be  to  ruin  those  of  Eng¬ 
land,  if  the  system  be  allowed  fair  play. 

The  people  of  Russia,  we  are  assured,  have  been  compelled  to  waste  food 
’  for  want  of  a  market.  Rather  than  do  this,  they  would  give  a  bushel  of 
wheat  for  a  yard  of  cloth.  That  they  cannot  afford  to  do  this,  we  are 
assured;  but  what  else  can  they  do?  If  they  cannot  make  cloth  they  must 
buy  it,  and  they  must  give  an  equivalent,  and  if  that  be  even  bushels  for 
yards,  they  must  give  them.  Until  Russia  can  make  a  market  for  this  now 
surplus  food,  it  will  seek  a  market  at  any  price,  and  the  price  in  England 
cannot  much  exceed  the  cost  of  transportation  between  the  farm  on  which 
it  was  produced  and  the  town  at  which  it  is  consumed.  Nearly  the  whole 
of  that  price  must  go  to  the  exchanger,  to  the  loss  of  both  land  and  labour, 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


90 


both  of  which  must  tend  towards  the  Russian  level,  now  a  very  low  one, 
because  of  the  absence  of  a  market  on  the  land  for  the  products  of  the  land. 

The  object  of  the  now  dominant  class  in  England  is  that  of  bringing 
about  free  trade  with  the  world.  Such  a  measure  adopted  by  this  country 
would  close  every  furnace  and  rolling-mill,  and  every  cotton  and  woollen 
factory  in  the  country,  and  would  diminish  the  value  of  both  labour  and 
land,  by  compelling  the  producer  of  food  to  seek  a  market  in  England. 
Similar  measures  adopted  by  the  Zoll-verem,  would  compel  the  people  of 
Germany  to  do  the  same,  attended  with  similar  results.  The  market  of 
England  would  be  borne  down  with  the  weight,  and  the  price  would  fall  so 
low  as  utterly  to  destroy  the  power  of  the  labourer  on  land  to  pay  rent  for 
its  use,  and  the  power  of  the  owner  to  improve  it.  The  class  intermediate 
between  the  producers  in  various  parts  of  the  world,  would  daily  grow  in 
numbers  and  strength,  and  the  productiveness  of  labour  and  land  would 
daily  diminish,  with  steady  diminution  in  the  value  of  both. 

On  the  other  hand,  let  us  suppose  the  people  of  the  Union,  of  Russia,  and 
of  Germany,  to  adopt  such  measures  as  would  enable  them  to  consume  on 
the  land  the  whole  of  the  food  produced  upon  the  land,  and  thus  to  put  a 
stop  to  the  enormous  imports  by  which  the  English  agriculturist  is  now 
being  crushed.  The  immediate  effect  would  be  that  the  labour  and  land  of 
all  those  countries  would  rise  in  value,  and  therewith  there  would  be  an  in¬ 
crease  in  the  value  of  both  in  England.  The  demand  for  labour  here  would 
speedily  drain  off  the  surplus  hands  employed  in  factory  labour,  and  the 
increased  demand  for  home-grown  food  would  induce  the  application  of 
labour  and  capital  to  production,*  and  the  value  of  both  would  rise.  Con¬ 
sumption  would  increase  as  labour  became  more  productive,  and  the  power 
of  the  producers  would  be  restored,  while  that  of  the  mere  exchangers  would 
be  diminished. 

To  the  improvement  of  the  condition  of  labour  and  land  in  the  United 
Kingdom  the  abolition  of  the  colonial  system  is  essential.  Its  maintenance 
involves  the  payment  of  taxes  to  an  amount  that  is  terrific,  all  of  which 
must  be  paid  by  the  producers  and  those  who  own  the  machine  of  pro¬ 
duction ,  abroad  or  at  home.  The  tax  that  is  nominally  paid  by  the  man 
who  sells  the  wheat,  or  by  him  who  transports  it,  is  really  paid  by  the  man 
who  produces  it,  and  by  him  that  consumes  it.  Three-fourths  of  the  nation 
are  engaged  in  the  work  of  transporting,  converting,  or  exchanging  the  pro¬ 
ducts  of  others,  adding  nothing  whatever  to  the  quantity  produced,  while 
living  out  of  it,  and  thus  deteriorating  the  condition  of  the  land-owners  and 
labourers  of  England  and  of  the  world. 

The  land-owners  of  England  have  been  the  legislators  of  England.  They 
made  the  system  which  produced  our  revolution — that  which  has  depopu¬ 
lated  India,  and  must  ruin  every  country  subjected  to  it — and  they  are  now 
paying  the  penalty.  Each  step  towards  the  degradation  of  the  people  by 
whom  they  were  surrounded  has  been  attended  by  loss  of  power  in  them¬ 
selves.  Their  policy  has  converted  the  little  occupant  into  the  hired 
labourer,  and  the  labourers  on  land  into  the  tenants  of  lanes  and  alleys  in 
Liverpoolf  and  Manchester.  Throughout  much  of  Scotland  they  have  sub¬ 
stituted  sheep  for  the  men  whom  they  have  driven  to  take  refuge  in  Glas¬ 
gow,  and  with  each  such  step  they  have  weakened  themselves,  converting 


*  At  a  recent  meeting  in  London,  Dr.  Buckland  asserted  that  the  product  of  all  the  clay- 
lands  of  England  might  be  doubled  by  a  moderate  expenditure  for  drainage. 

■j-  The  greatest  crowding  of  population  in  a  neighbourhood  is  in  a  district  in  Liverpool, 
England,  containing  a  population  of  8000  on  49,000  square  yards  of  ground,  being  in  the 
proportion  of  657,963  to  a  square  mile. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


91 


those  who  were  their  own  support  into  the  tools  of  those  who  live  at  the  cost 
of  both.  The  exchanger  has  set  his  foot  upon  their  necks.  Commerce  is 
King.  They  are  prostrate,  and  so  they  must  remain  until  they  shall  have 
help  from  abroad.  Their  natural  allies  are  the  land-owners  of  the  rest  of  the 
world.  The  East  India  Company,  as  the  great  land-owner  of  India,  is 
greatly  interested.  That  country  is  becoming  daily  less  and  less  able  to 
pay  taxes,  and  the  power  so  to  do  must  diminish  with  the  continuance  of 
the  system.  Were  the  machinery  now  employed  in  converting  cotton  into 
cloth  for  India  employed  in  making  cloth  in  India,  thus  making  a  market 
on  the  land  for  its  products,  the  culture  of  cotton  would  revive,  the  demand 
for  food  would  increase,  population  would  grow,  and  jungle  would  be  cleared, 
and  the  Company  might  then  obtain  a  constantly  increasing  rent  from  taxes 
constantly  decreasing  in  their  weight,  paid  by  a  people  constantly  improving 
in  condition.  The  price  of  labour  would  rise,  and  the  necessity  for  armies 
would  diminish,  and  the  Company  might  then,  at  no  distant  period,  sell  out 
its  establishments  to  a  people  who  would  thereafter  govern  themselves. 

It  is  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  however,  that  they  must  chiefly 
look  for  help.  Owners  already  of  the  chief  part  of  North  America,  they  are 
likely  soon  to  own  the  whole.  The  national ,  not  party  or  sectional,  adop¬ 
tion  of  the  protective  policy  would  at  once  raise  the  value  of  land  throughout 
the  Union,  because  it  would  then  be  felt  that  a  market  would  everywhere  be 
made  on  the  land  for  the  products  of  the  land.  The  British  provinces  would 
then  speedily  be  incorporated  into  the  Union,  and  the  supply  of  food  to 
British  markets  would  cease;  Cuba  and  Mexico  would  follow,  and  thus  would 
be  made  a  market  for  the  population  of  all  Southern  Europe ;  and  with  each 
such  step  the  value  of  labour  would  rise,  followed  by  a  necessity,  on  the  part  of 
the  landholders  everywhere,  for  an  effort  to  retain  their  rent-payers,  if  they 
would  preserve  the  value  of  their  land.  Spain  and  Italy  would  become  manu¬ 
facturers  for  themselves,  and  thus  the  colonial  system  would  gradually 
pass  out,  and  with  it  the  power  of  the  exchangers  over  the  labourers  and 
land-owners. 

It  is  not  by  immigration  alone  that  the  population  of  the  Union  would  be 
augmented,  and  increased  value  given  to  the  land  which  so  much  abounds. 
The  present  system  degrades  the  country  to  build  up  great  cities,  to  be¬ 
come  the  resort  of  tens  of  thousands  who  would  have  remained  at  home 
among  parents  and  friends,  had  furnaces,  rolling-mills,  cotton  or  woollen 
mills  afforded  them  employment  for  time  and  mind.  The  same  cause 
compels  another  portion  to  fly  to  the  West;  and  while,  in  the  one  case, 
we  have  the  poverty,  vice,  and  disease  of  crowded  cities,  in  the  other  we 
have  those  of  scattered  population;  and  men,  women, and  children  starve  in 
New  York,  while  other  men,  women,  and  children  perish  of  feyers  incident 
to  the  occupation  of  new  countries  in  advance  of  the  arrangements  that 
would  have  resulted  from  the  more  gradual  extension  of  the  area  of  settle¬ 
ment.  It  will  be  said  that  here  is  discord.  If  the  city  population  did  not 
grow,  what  would  become  of  the  owners  of  city  lots?  The  harmony  of  in¬ 
terests  is  here,  as  everywhere  else,  perfect.  Towns  and  cities  would  grow 
more  rapidly  than  ever,  but  they  would  grow  more  healthfully,  preserving 
a  nearer  relation  to  the  population  of  the  country,  whose  trade  they  desired 
to  perform.  New  York  would  cease  to  be,  as  now,  a  great  wen,  absorbing 
all  the  profits  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  poor  farmers,  her  customers, 
who  give  ten  days’  labour  employed  in  raising  corn  for  the  labour  of  one 
day  employed  in  producing  British  iron.  The  country  and  the  city  would 
grow  together,  and  the  jealousy  of  the  country  towards  the  city  would 
speedily  pass  away. 

The  people  of  China  constitute  a  world  of  themselves.  They  have  little 


92 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


intercourse  with  the  exterior  world,  nor  is  the  example  of  Hindostan  likely 
to  produce  any  desire  for  its  extension:  certainly  not,  while  they  shall  con¬ 
tinue  to  recollect  that  their  desire  to  prohibit  the  importation  of  opium  in¬ 
volved  them  in  a  war  that  resulted  in  the  destruction  of  cities  and  the  ruin 
of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  innocent  people.  The  system  of  that  country 
is  directly  the  reverse  of  ours,  in  the  fact  that  the  government  is  in  the  hands 
of  one,  while  here  it  is  in  the  hands  of  all.  In  this,  it  labours  under  infinite 
disadvantage,  yet  the  spectacle  there  presented  of  the  results  of  combined 
action  puts  to  shame  our  boasted  civilization.  A  recent  writer  thus  describes 
the  condition  of  the  people : — 

“  The  farms  are  small,  each  consisting  of  from  one  to  four  or  five  acres,  indeed,  every 
cottager  has  his  own  little  tea  garden,  the  produce  of  which  supplies  the  wants  of  his 
family,  and  the  surplus  brings  him  in  a  few  dollars,  which  are  spent  on  the  other  neces¬ 
saries  of  life.  The  same  system  is  practised  in  every  thing  relating  to  Chinese  agriculture. 
The  cotton,  silk,  and  rice  farms,  are  generally  all  small,  and  managed  upon  the  same  plan. 
There  are  few  sights  more  pleasing  than  a  Chinese  family  in  the  interior  engaged  in 
gathering  the  tea-leaves,  or,  indeed,  in  any  of  their  other  agricultural  pursuits.  There  is 
the  old  man,  it  may  be  the  grandfather,  or  even  the  great-grandfather,  patriarch-like  direct¬ 
ing  his  descendants,  many  of  whom  are  in  their  youth  and  prime,  while  others  are  in 
their  childhood,  in  the  labours  of  the  field.  He  stands  in  the  midst  of  them,  bowed  down 
with  age.  But,  to  the  honour  of  the  Chinese  as  a  nation,  he  is  always  looked  up  to  by  all 
with  pride  and  affection,  and  his  old  age  and  gray  hairs  are  honoured,  revered  and  loved. 
When,  after  the  labours  of  the  day  are  over,  they  return  to  their  humble  and  happy 
homes,  their  fare  consists  chiefly  of  rice,  fish  and  vegetables,  which  they  enjoy  with  great 
zest,  and  are  happy  and  contented.  I  really  believe  there  is  no  country  in  the  world 
where  the  agricultural  population  are  better  off  than  they  are  in  the  north  of  China. 
Labour  with  them  is  pleasure,  for  its  fruits  are  eaten  by  themselves,  and  the  rod  of  the 
oppressor  is  unfelt  and  unknown.”* 

Let  this  be  compared  with  the  results  of  the  system  that  has  desolated 
Ireland  and  India,  and  that  drives  our  people  to  Oregon  and  California, 
while  men  are  everywhere,  among  ourselves,  half-cultivating  large  farms, 
when  they  might  obtain  treble  the  result  from  half  the  surface,  and  let  it 
then  he  determined  which  is  the  one  that  tends  most  to  promote  the  pros¬ 
perity  and  happiness  of  the  labourer,  and  to  improve  the  condition  of  the 
owner  of  land. 

The  policy  of  England  tending  to  dispersion,  she  desires  to  facilitate  the 
making  of  roads  by  which  all  the  commodities  of  the  world  may  be  brought 
to  her,  thence  to  be  returned  to  the  places  from  whence  they  came,  retaining 
so  large  a  portion  as  to  cause  the  destruction  of  the  land  and  its  owner. 
Lower  India  is  utterly  exhausted,  and  England  desires  railroads  to  more 
distant  points,  which  will  be  then  exhausted  in  their  turn.  From  1834  to 
1840  she  lent  us  iron  to  make  roads  in  new  countries,  and  we  were  ruined 
by  dispersion.  From  1843  to  1847,  we  filled  up  the  spaces,  the  policy 
being  that  of  concentration,  and  we  grew  rich.  The  present  policy  is  that 
of  dispersion.  It  is  proposed  to  make  a  railroad  to  the  Pacific,  that  men  may 
scatter  themselves  more  widely,  although  we  now  occupy  a  space  that 
would  be  sufficient  for  almost  the  population  of  the  world,  if  properly  culti¬ 
vated.  The  more  roads  we  make  in  the  now-settled  States,  the  richer  and 
stronger  we  shall  grow,  and  the  greater  will  be  the  value  of  land.  The 
more  roads  we  make  in  yet  unsettled  lands,  the  poorer  and  weaker  we  shall 
grow,  and  the  less  will  be  the  value  of  land.  It  behooves  the  farmer, 
then,  to  look  carefully  to  every  scheme  for  promoting  dispersion. 

The  value  of  labour  and  of  capital  is  dependent  on  the  quantity  of  both 
that  can  be  given  to  the  work  of  production.  Every  increase  in  the  quan- 


*  Fortune’s  Wanderings  in  China. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


93 


tity  of  either  required  to  be  given  to  the  work  of  conversion  and  transportation, 
tends  to  diminish  the  value  of  all.  Every  diminution  in  the  quantity  tends 
to  increase  the  value  of  all.  The  nearer  the  consumer  and  the  producer  can 
be  brought  together,  the  greater  is  the  quantity  of  capital  and  labour  that  can 
be  given  to  the  work  of  production,  the  smaller  is  that  which  is  required 
for  transportation,  and  the  more  rapid  is  the  advance  in  the  value  of  both 
labour  and  land. 

We  are  now  separating  the  consumer  from  the  producer,  and  the  conse¬ 
quence  is,  that  five  per  cent,  stocks  are  at  par,  land  is  cheap,  and  wages 
are  low.  Were  the  tariff  of  1842  re-enacted,  interest  would  rise  to  six  per 
cent,  and  labour  would  command  a  large  return — the  consequence  of  which 
would  be  a  great  increase  in  the  consumption  of  food,  and  wool,  and  cotton, 
and  the  value  of  land  would  rise. 

The  annexation  of  a  million  of  people,  emigrants  from  Europe,  to  our 
community,  establishes  free  trade  with  them.  The  annexation  of  the  land 
and  the  people  of  Canada,  and  the  other  British  possessions,  would  enlarge 
the  domain  of  perfect  free  trade.  So  would  that  of  Cuba,  Mexico,  Ireland, 
or  even  England,*  and  free  trade  thus  established  would  be  beneficial  to  all, 
the  annexers  and  the  annexed. 

The  people  of  the  north  would  not  object  to  the  annexation  of  Canada, 
although  such  a  measure  could  profit  them  but  little.  They  and  the  Canadians 
are  both  sellers  of  fQod,  and  it  is  the  superior  value  of  wheat  and  flour  on  the 
south  side  of  the  line  by  which  they  are  divided  that  induces  the  Canadians 
to  desire  to  be  brought  within  the  Union.  The  people  of  the  South  would 
oppose  the  admission  of  Canada,  although  the  effect  of  such  a  measure 
would  be  to  convert  the  Canadians  into  large  customers,  instead  of  per¬ 
mitting  them  to  remain  small  ones.t  Once  within  the  Union,  the  con¬ 
sumption  of  cotton  in  the  British  provinces  would  speedily  rise  from 
20,000,000  of  yards,  weighing  5,000,000  of  pounds,  to  30,000,000  of 
pounds,  and  thus  would  the  planter  gain  a  market  for  50,000  bales  of  cotton. 
The  material  interests  of  the  South  would  be  promoted  by  the  annexation 
of  Canada,  yet  would  the  South  oppose  the  measure  on  the  ground  of  sup¬ 
posed  danger  to  political  interests. 

The  South  would  advocate  the  admission  of  Cuba  into  the  Union,  although 
the  effect  of  such  a  measure  would,  under  existing  circumstances,  be  that  of 
ruining  the  cultivation  of  sugar,  the  only  resource  to  which  the  planter 
now  can  look  with  hope — the  only  one  that  has  enabled  him  to  bear  up 
under  the  late  and  present  hopeless  condition  of  the  cotton  culture.  The 
man  of  the  north  would  oppose  the  measure,  although  it  would  give  him 
sugar  at  a  cost  far  below  the  present  one,  and  a  market  for  grain  and  cloth 
that  would  absorb  of  both  to  a  vast  amount.  Political  interests  are  thus  at  va¬ 
riance  with  material  ones.  In  both  cases  the  discord  is  but  apparent,  while  the 
harmony  is  real.  The  establishment  of  that  real  freedom  of  trade  which 
results  from  the  immigration  of  individuals,  or  from  the  annexation  of  com¬ 
munities,  can  never  fail  to  be  productive  of  benefit  to  all. 

The  cotton  planter,  as  we  have  seen,  now  sells  .his  product  in  the  cheap- 


*  Ireland  and  England  are  mentioned  here  only  to  show  that  the  difficulty  of  having 
perfect  free  trade  with  them  would  be  removed  by  the  change  in  the  value  of  labour 
that  would  result  from  change  of  their  political  system. 

f  Export  to  British  North  America  in  the  first  six  months  of 

1846.  1847.  1848.  1849. 

7,483,318  7,339,686  6,745,536  5,979,991 

8,483,163  6,497,845  4,589,811  5,701,S57 


Plain  calicoes 
Printed  “ 


16,966,481 


13,837,531 


11,335,347 


11,681,848 


94 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS 


est  market  and  buys  his  cloth  and  iron  in  the  dearest  one.  He  gives  away 
the  one,  and  is  then  unable  to  buy  the  other.  By  changing  his  system,  and 
compelling  the  loom  to  come  to  the  cotton, and  the  anvil  to  come  to  the  food, 
he  will  sell  his  cotton  and  obtain  his  cloth  and  iron  in  exchange  for 
labour  that  is  now  being  wasted.  He  will  then  export  cloth  to  all  the 
world,  and  the  necessity  for  resorting  to  the  cultivation  of  sugar  will  cease. 
The  people  of  the  North  will  then  consume  all  the  sugar  that  Cuba  can 
produce,  and  those  of  Cuba  will  require  pounds  of  cotton  where  now  they 
consume  but  ounces.* 

CHAPTER  TWELFTH. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  THE  MANUFACTURER. 

The  shipowner  stands  between  the  producer  of  cotton  and  his  customers, 
and  the  larger  proportion  the  quantity  to  be  transported  bears  to  the  number 
of  ships  to  do  the  work,  the  higher  will  be  freights.  W e  might  thence  suppose 
that  his  interest  would  be  promoted  by  the  pursuance  of  a  course  that 
would  compel  the  cotton  to  go  to  the  loom,  and  that  he  would  be  injured  by 
the  adoption  of  one  requiring  the  loom  to  come  to  the  cotton.  Directly 
the  reverse,  however,  as  we  have  seen,  is  the  fact.  The  more  the  loom  can 
be  made  to  come  to  the  cotton,  the  more  valuable  are  the  services  of  men, 
the  greater  the  number  of  men  to  be  imported,  the  larger.the  number  of  com¬ 
modities  that  can  be  exported,  and  the  larger  the  business  for  ships. 

The  manufacturer,  in  like  manner,  stands  between  the  producer  and  the 
consumer  of  cotton,  and  the  larger  the  quantity  of  cotton  to  be  converted 
compared  with  the  machinery  of  conversion,  the  larger  will  be  his  charge 
for  the  use  of  his  machinery.  It  might,  therefore,  be  supposed  that  he 
would  be  injured  by  the  adoption  of  measures  tending  to  place  the  loom  in  the 
cotton-fields  of  the  South,  or  on  the  coal-fields  of  the  West,  but  the  reverse 
is  the  fact.  The  more  people  make  coarse  cloth  in  the  South  and  West, 
the  more  will  there  be  to  require  fine  cloth  and  silks  from  the  East,  and 
the  greater  the  demand  for  labour  in  the  one,  the  greater  will  be  the  requi¬ 
sitions  made  upon  the  other  for  the  skill  they  have  already  acquired,  with 
a  constant  increase  of  wages,  and  equally  constant  increase  in  the  power  of 
consuming  food,  cloth,  and  iron.  The  more  they  can  make  their  exchanges 
at  home,  with  men  whose  labour  is  valuable,  the  larger  will  be  the  equiva¬ 
lent  received  for  their  own  labour ;  and  the  more  rapid  the  increase  in  the 
value  of  that  of  others,  the  greater  will  be  the  value  of  their  own.  Every 
measure  tending  to  break  down  the  monopoly  of  machinery  tends  to  increase 
the  value  of  man  throughout  the  world,  and  none  could  have  that  effect  to 
such  an  extent  as  would  the  transfer  of  the  machinery  of  Lowell  to  the 
cotton-fields,  to  be  replaced  by  other  machinery  of  a  higher  order. 

But,  it  will  be  said,  “  The  people  of  the  South  need  no  further  protection 
than  they  now  have.  They  are  satisfied  with  30  per  cent.,  and  why,  if  they 
can  go  on  to  manufacture  without  any  increase  of  duty,  should  they  impose 
higher  duties  on  fine  cloths  and  silks,  for  the  benefit  of  the  North  and  East? 
We  know  that  the  latter  cannot  make  fine  muslins  at  the  present  rate  of 
duty — nor  can  they  manufacture  silk  goods  in  competition  with  France. 
The  South  will  work  up  its  cotton  and  make  its  own  exchanges,  leaving  the 
duty  as  it  stands,  and  then  Lowell,  Lawrence,  and  Providence  must  go 
down,  for  competition  is  impossible.”  Such  are  the  views  perpetually  pro¬ 
mulgated  by  journals  whose  editors  profess  great  acquaintance  with  political 


*  The  export  from  Great  Britain  to  all  the  foreign  West  India  Islands  is  but  little  over 
20,000,000  of  yards. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


95 


economy,  and  whose  speculations  are  received  as  authority  by  their 
readers.  Nothing,  however,  could  be  less  in  accordance  with  the  true  in¬ 
terests  of  the  planters. 

The  larger  the  quantity  of  the  machinery  prepared  for  the  conversion  of 
cotton  into  cloth,  the  smaller  will  he  the  charge  for  its  use.  The  planter 
requires  to  rid  himself  of  a  monopoly  that  limits  the  increase  of  that  ma¬ 
chinery,  and  compels  him  to  give  to  the  owners  of  the  little  that  exists, 
whether  English  or  American,  a  share  of  the  product  entirely  dispropor- 
tioned  to  its  value  as  compared  with  that  of  the  machinery  required  for  pro¬ 
ducing  his  cotton.  To  break  down  one  monopoly  and  establish  another 
would  not  answer  his  purpose,  and  yet  such  would  be  the  result  at  which 
he  would  arrive  were  he  to  pursue  a  course  that  would  merely  substitute 
Augusta  for  Lowell,  or  Graniteville  for  Lawrence.  The  man  of  the  South 
would,  and  necessarily,  do  as  he  of  the  North  now  does,  buy  his  cotton 
at  the  market  price,  as  fixed  in  England ,  and  sell  his  goods  at  the  market 
price,  as  fixed  in  England ,  for  until  the  quantity  of  machinery  shall  be 
so  far  increased  as  to  prevent  the  accumulation  of  large  stocks  in  England, 
the  price  must  continue  to  be  there  fixed  for  the  world ;  and  so  long  as  we 
shall  continue  to  be  compelled  to  go  there  for  any  portion  of  our  supplies  of 
cloth,  the  price  of  the  whole  will  continue  to  be  fixed  by  the  cost  of  obtaining 
the  last  small  portion.  What  the  planter  needs  is  that  the  price  shall  be 
fixed  here,  for  both  cotton  and  cloth,  and  that  it  may  be  so,  he  requires  an 
increase  of  the  quantity  of  machinery  ready  to  do  his  work,  and  not  the  mere 
,  substitution  of  that  of  Southern  men  for  that  of  Northern  men. 

How  indispensably  necessary  it  is  that  they  should  do  so  will  be  obvious 
from  an  examination  of  the  diagram  given  at  page  75.  It  is  there  shown  how 
enormous  are  the  charges  of  the  manufacturers  when  the  quantity  for  cotton 
requiring  to  be  converted  bears  a  large  proportion  to  the  machinery  for  con¬ 
verting  it.  In  the  following  table  are  given, 

First.  The  amount  of  the  crop. 

Second.  The  prices  of  cotton  in  Liverpool,  by  which  those  of  the  rest  of 
the  world  are  settled.  The  dates  taken  are  March,  1844,  July,  1845,  May, 
1846,  and  June,  1847. 

Third.  The  price  of  best  mule  twist,  No.  2  per  pound,  at  the  same  periods 
of  time. 

Fourth.  The  price  the  whole  crop,  allowing  twelve  per  cent,  for  waste, 
would  yield,  if  converted  into  this  description  of  yarn. 

Fifth.  The  yield  to  the  planter,  supposing  the  whole  crop  so  sold,  from 
which  are  to  be  deducted  all  the  freights,  charges,  &c.,  between  his  plantation 
and  Liverpool. 

Sixth.  The  amount  retained  by  the  manufacturer  as  his  charge  for  con¬ 
verting  cotton- wool  into  yarn. 


Year.  Crop.  Price. 

1843- 4  815,000,000  6d. 

1844- 5  958,000,000  4 

1845- 6  840,000,000  4f 

1846- 7  711,000,000  7 


Price 
of  twist. 

10  \d. 
Ill 

9| 

m 


Amount  of  twist. 

£31,000,000 

41,000,000 

30,000,000 

27,500,000 


Price  of  crop. 

£20,000,000 

16,000,000 

16,500,000 

20,700,000 


Charge  for 
conversion . 

£11,000,000 

25,000,000 

13,500,000 

6,800,000 


If  we  deduct  from  the  crop  of  1846-7,  the  comparatively  small  sum 
required  for  the  payment  of  freight,  charges,  &c.,  and  from  that  of  1844-5, 
the  large  sum  required  for  the  same  purposes,  it  will  be  seen  how  insignifi¬ 
cant  is  the  return  to  the  planter  for  a  large  crop  compared  with  what  he 
receives  for  a  small  one. 

In  1847,  the  manufacturer  gave  Id.  and  sold  at  an  advance  of  about  fifty 
per  cent. — i.  e.  he  charged  half  as  much  for  converting  the  wool  into  yarn 


96 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


as  he  paid  for  the  wool  itself.  In  1845,  when  he  paid  4 d.  he  sold  at  nearly 
a  shilling-- — 2.  e.,  he  charged  twice  as  much  for  the  work  of  twisting  the  wool 
as  he  paid  for  the  wool.  He  was  enabled  to  do  this,  because  of  two 
reasons : — First,  the  machinery  of  conversion  was  disproportioned  to  the 
quantity  of  cotton  to  be  converted;  and  second,  the  market  for  cotton  goods 
was  extending  itself,  because  the  world  was  comparatively  peaceful,  and 
labour  was  being  applied  more  productively  than  usual.  The  effect  of  the 
change  that  has  since  occurred  will  be  seen  from  the  following  view  of  the 
operations  of  1848. 

Crop.  Price,  Amount  of  yarn.  Amount  of  crop.  Charge  for 

yarn.  ^  r  conversion. 

1847-8  940,000,000  4 d.  8 d.  £28,000,000  £15,600,000  £12,400,000 

The  machinery  had  been  increased,  but  the  market  was  gone.  Wars, 
revolutions,  and  threats  of  war  and  revolution,  had  destroyed  it.  The 
planter  had  4 d.  per  pound,  of  which  a  large  portion  was  swallowed  up  in 
the  cost  of  transportation ;  and  the  manufacturer  obtained  as  much  for  twist¬ 
ing  the  wool  into  yarn  as  the  planter  received  for  raising,  ginning  and 
baling  it,  and  for  transporting  it,  first  to  the  place  of  shipment,  and  thence 
to  Liverpool,  together  with  all  the  charges  of  the  numerous  persons  through 
whose  hands  it  passed  on  its  way. 

The  planter  needs  machinery  adequate  to  the  conversion  of  his  crop,  and 
also  a  market  for  it  when  converted.  The  failure  of  either  is  equally  fatal 
to  him. 

The  first  he  cannot  have  under  the  monopoly  system.  It  is  one  of  mere 
gambling ;  and  while  a  few  make  fortunes,  the  many  are  ruined.  The 
distant  few,  already  wealthy — the  cotton-lords  of  England — are  not  the 
men  to  whom  he  must  look  to  provide  him  with  it.  It  is  to  himself,  and  the 
many  like  himself,  at  home.  Fuel  and  iron  ore  abound  in  the  South,  and 
cotton  fields  furnish  cheap  sites  for  the  erection  of  acres  of  factory,  in  which 
the  product  of  thousands  of  acres  of  cotton  could  be  converted  by  aid  of  the 
labour  that  is  now  wasted — the  coal  and  the  iron  ore  whose  powers  remain 
unused — the  water  powers  that  remain  unimproved.  By  their  aid,  every 
pound  of  cotton  now  produced  in  the  South,  not  required  by  Great  Britain 
and  others  for  their  own  immediate  consumption,  could  be  converted  into 
yarn  or  cloth,  and  cheaply  furnished  to  the  world.  The  planter  would 
then  receive  a  yard  of  cloth  for  a  pound  and  a  half  of  cotton,  instead  of 
giving  five  pounds  for  one. 

The  difference  between  the  price  of  the  crop  of  cotton,  in  Liverpool ,  and 
the  price  of  yarn,  also  in  Liverpool ,  in  1844—5,  would  have  exceeded  a 
hundred  millions  of  dollars,  being  twice  the  amount*  that  it  would  cost  to 
place  in  the  cotton  fields  of  the  South  spindles  for  converting  into  yarn  the 
whole  crop  that  is  now  sent  without  the  limits  of  the  Union. 

He  would  then  have  yarn  or  cloth  to  sell  instead  of  cotton,  and  then  his 
crop  would  speedily  rise  to  five  millions  of  bales,  for  the  labour  and  manure 
now  wasted  on  the  road  would  go  upon  the  land.  Capital  now  absorbed  by 
brokers,  ship-owners,  and  distant  manufacturers,  would  be  applied  to  the  mak¬ 
ing  of  railroads,  the  improvement  of  the  machinery  of  cultivation,  the  diffu¬ 
sion  of  knowledge,  and  in  a  thousand  other  ways  tending  to  render  labour 
more  productive.  Where,  however,  is  he  to  find  a  market  for  his  products, 
thus  increased? 

Commerce  is  but  an  exchange  of  equivalents ;  and  if  the  supply  of  iron, 
silk,  coffee,  tea,  and  other  commodities  required  by  the  planter,  do  not  keep 
pace  with  increase  in  the  supply  of  cotton,  he  will  be  constantly  giving 


*  See  Plough,  Loom,  and  Anvil,  No.  .XIX.,  page  421. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


97 


more  cotton  for  less  iron  or  silk,  and  thus  others  will  enjoy  the  whole  ad¬ 
vantage  resulting  from  his  increased  exertion.  That  the  advantage  may,  as 
justly  it  should,  be  his,  it  is  necessary  that  the  production  of  the  commo¬ 
dities  that  he  desires  to  receive  in  exchange  go  on  to  increase  in  a  manner 
correspondent  with  that  which  he  desires  to  give.  If  it  does  so,  he  gives 
labour  for  labour.  If  it  does  not,  he  gives  more  labour  for  less  labour. 

The  question  now  arises:  Can  the  production  of  the  world,  under  the 
existing  system,  go  on  to  increase  in  such  a  manner  as  to  give  to  the  planter 
a  proper  equivalent  for  his  production  ?  The  answer  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact, 
that  it  has  already  failed  to  do  so,  and  that  he  is  even  now  obliged  to  abandon 
cotton  for  wheat  and  sugar.  How,  then,  can  it  he  expected  to  do  so  in 
future  ?  The  average  crop  must  speedily  reach  3,000,000  of  bales  ;  and, 
when  it  shall  have  done  so,  his  condition  will  be  worse  than  at  present. 
The  production  of  the  world  does  not  increase  correspondingly  with  our 
own ;  and  until  it  can  be  made  so  to  do,  we  must  work  at  disadvantage, 
giving  much  labour  for  little  labour. 

With  all  its  immense  mass  of  rich  and  unimproved  land,  the  United  King¬ 
dom  produces  little.  It  does  not  even  feed  itself.  Tt  has  a  little  iron  and 
coal  to  sell,  but  a  demand  for  an  extra  hundred  thousand  tons  of  the  former 
would  greatly  increase  the  price  of  the  whole  without  producing  any  ma¬ 
terial  increase  in  the  demand  for  cotton ;  for  the  rich  iron-master  would  be 
made  richer,  while  the  poor  miner  would  remain  as  poor  as  now.  Great 
Britain  has  scarcely  any  thing  to  sell  but  services — not  products.  To  her 
we  cannot  look  for  a  market. 

Of  the  people  of  France,  almost  half  a  million  of  those  most  capable  of 
working  employ  themselves  in  carrying  muskets,  and  a  large  portion  of  the 
labour  of  the  rest  is  employed  in  raising  food  for  them  and  other  non-pro¬ 
ducers,  in  making  clothing  for  them  to  wear,  and  powder  for  them  to  burn. 
They  have,  therefore,  few  products  to  sell,  and,  like  Great  Britain,  they  have 
little  to  offer  in  exchange  but  services. 

The  people  of  Italy  and  India  raise  some  silk,  hut  the  chief  part  of  both 
are  otherwise  occupied  than  in  labours  of  production;  and  so  are  they  like 
to  be,  and  they  cannot  increase  their  product  to  keep  pace  with  ours. 
Germany  maintains  large  armies,  and  produces  little  to  sell.  So  it  is  with 
Spain  and  Portugal.  Mexico  has  a  little  silver  and  cochineal:  but  the  quan¬ 
tity  does  not  grow,  nor  is  it  likely  so  to  do.  Look  where  we  may,  the  power 
of  production  is  not  only  small,  but  incapable  of  increase  under  existing 
circumstances,  and  unless  a  change  can  be  effected,  we  cannot  find  markets 
for  the  products  of  our  constantly  increasing  population.  What  is  the  re¬ 
medy  ?  It  is  to  bring  the  people  to  the  place  where  alone  their  labour  can 
be  made  productive,  and  thus  establish  perfect  free  trade  with  them. 

Fifty  thousand  English  miners  and  furnace  men  distributed  among 
the  coal  and  iron-ore  fields  of  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Tennessee 
and  Alabama,  would  produce  600,000  tons  of  bar  iron,  to  be  exchanged 
with  the  farmer  for  his  wheat,  and  the  planter  for  his  cotton,  and  the 
latter  would  then  obtain  a  ton  of  the  one  for  a  bale  of  the  other,  instead 
of  giving  two  or  three  for  one.  He  could  then  make  roads  to  go  to  market, 
and  the  labour  of  his  people  would  become  valuable,  and  they  would  con¬ 
sume  five  times  the  cloth  they  now  consume,  and  thus  would  be  made  a 
double  market  for  his  cotton. 

The  same  number  of  Italians  would  raise  quadruple  the  silk  we  now 
consume,  and  they  would  be  large  consumers  of  food  and  cotton.  Were  the 
market  for  silk  once  made  here,  we  should  in  a  little  time  raise  as  much  as 
all  the  world  beside,  and  consume  almost  all  we  raised. 

The  planter  and  the  farmer  must  make  a  market  on  the  land  for  the 


98 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


products  of  the  land,  by  bringing  here  the  people  they  desire  to  employ 
in  the  production  of  the  commodities  they  require  to  consume;  or  they  must 
continue  to  give  a  continually  increasing  quantity  of  labour  for  a  continually 
decreasing  one.  By  adopting  the  first  course,  they  would  convert  the  con¬ 
sumers  of  one  pound  into  consumers  of  twenty  pounds,  and  the  consumers 
of  twenty  pounds  into  consumers  of  forty  pounds.  By  adopting  the  opposite 
policy — that  now  called  free  trade — they  will  convert  consumers  of  twenty 
pounds  into  consumers  of  one. 

Were  it  now  known  in  Europe  that  such  was  the  fixed  and  unalterable 
policy  of  the  nation ,  the  present  year  would  see  the  transfer  of  population  to 
the  extent  of  half  a  million  of  persons,  and  of  capital,  in  the  form  oE  ma¬ 
chinery,  to  an  incalculable  extent;  and  once  here, here  they  would  stay,  in¬ 
creasing  at  once,  and  immensely,  the  market  for  both  food  and  cotton.  Five 
years  would  scarcely  elapse  before  it  would  reach  a  million ;  for  with  every  year 
the  power  to  obtain  food,  clothing,  and  the  machinery  for  profitably  applying 
labour,  would  increase,  offering  new  inducements  for  the  transfer  of  both 
labour  and  capital.  With  each  year,  the  desire  of  our  neighbours,  north 
and  south,  to  enter  the  Union  would  increase,  and  but  few  would  elapse 
before  it  would  embrace  all  North  America,  and  a  population  of  forty  or  fifty 
millions  of  people,  themselves  consuming  far  more  than  all  the  cotton  we  now 
raise.  The  Canadian,  in  the  Union,  would  find  his  labours  trebly  profitable, 
for  he  would  obtain  treble  the  iron  and  cloth  in  return  for  less  exertion. 
The  mines  of  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick  would  give  forth  their 
treasures  in  return  to  the  labour  of  men  who  now  can  consume  but  little  food 
or  clothing,  but  would  then  have  power  to  consume  much.  The  mines  of  Mexico 
would  be  made  to  yield  three  dollars,  where  now  they  yield  but  one ;  and 
all  would  obtain  silver,  gold,  iron,  lead,  cloth,  and  all  other  of  the  necessaries, 
comforts,  and  luxuries  of  life,  at  diminished  cost  of  labour. 

With  each  step  of  this  progress  there  would  be  increased  demand  for  the 
labour,  both  physical  and  mental,  of  the  manufacturers  of  the  North,  for  the 
demand  for  fine  cloths  and  for  silk  would  grow  with  the  growth  of  the  power 
to  produce  coarse  cloth  and  iron;  the  demand  for  fine  books  would  grow 
with  the  increase  of  school-books  and  newspapers ;  and  the  demand  for  cotton 
and  woollen  machinery  would  grow  with  the  increase  in  the  power  to  obtain 
railroad  iron. 

Between  the  manufacturer  and  the  planter  there  is,  therefore,  perfect 
harmony  of  interest.  All  are  alike  interested  in  the  exertion  to  shake  off 
the  load  imposed  upon  them  by  the  present  monopoly  of  machinery ;  but 
of  all  the  agriculturist  is  most  interested.  Its  tendency  is  to  reduce  the  power 
of  production  throughout  the  world,  to  diminish  the  power  of  consumption, 
and  thus  to  destroy  the  customers  of  both  planter  and  farmer.  The 
tendency  of  protection  is  to  raise  the  value  of  labour  throughout  the  world, 
by  increasing  the  estimation  in  which  man  is  held  abroad,  and  thereby  to 
augment  production  and  the  power  of  consumption.  With  ever)?-  increase 
in  the  tendency  to  fly  from  Europe,  it  would  be  felt  more  necessary  to 
endeavour  to  keep  the  people  at  home.  By  that  process,  and  that  alone, 
will  the  labourer  of  the  world  be  raised  to  a  level  with  our  own. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


99 


CHAPTER  THIRTEENTH. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  THE  CAPITALIST. 

If  protection  be  “a  war  upon  labour  and  capital,”  it  must  tend,  by  les¬ 
sening  the  productiveness  of  labour,  to  prevent  its  proper  employment,  and 
thus  to  diminish  the  power  of  accumulating  wealth  by  the  clearing,  drain¬ 
ing,  and  enclosing  of  lands,  the  building  of  houses,  the  construction  of  roads 
and  bridges  for  facilitating  transportation,  and  of  machinery  for  converting 
the  products  of  the  earth  into  the  form  required  to  fit  them  for  the  use  of  man. 
If,  on  the  contrary,  it  be  really,  as  its  name  imports,  protection  to  the  labourer, 
then  must  it  increase  the  power  of  accumulating  wealth,  to  be  used  for 
increasing  his  productive  power,  and  thus  facilitating  the  accumulation  of 
further  wealth. 

The  great  machine  of  production  is  the  land.  The  more  time  and  mind 
that  can  be  given  to  its  cultivation,  the  more  rapid  will  be  the  increase  of 
production,  the  larger  will  be  the  return  to  capital,  and  the  more  rapid  the 
improvement  in  the  condition  of  man. 

The  more  time  and  mind  that  must  be  given  to  the  preparation  of  ma¬ 
chinery  of  transportation,  the  slower  will  be  the  increase  of  production,  the 
smaller  will  be  the  return  to  capital,  and  the  slower  the  improvement  in  the 
condition  of  man.  The  object  of  protection  is  that  of  bringing  the  consumer  to 
take  his  place  by  the  side  of  the  producer;  thus  saving  transportation,  and 
facilitating  the  application  of  labour  to  production,  while  diminishing  the 
number  of  persons  among  whom  the  produce  is  to  be  divided. 

A  furnace,  capable  of  producing  5000  tons  of  iron  per  annum,  may  be 
put  in  motion  at  a  cost  of  $30,000.  These  5000  tons  would  exchange  in 
Ohio  for  150,000  bushels  of  wheat,  the  produce  of  12,500  acres  of  land  that 
has  cost  $40  dollars  an  acre,  equal  to  $500,000,  for  the  labour  employed 
in  clearing  and  draining  it,  in  making  fences,  building  barns,  houses  and 
doing  all  other  things  necessary  to  fit  it  for  production.  Let  us  suppose  the 
furnace,  houses  for  the  men,  preparation  of  the  mines,  &c.  to  have  cost 
$100,000,  and  yet  the  capital  employed  is  five  to  one,  to  obtain  precisely 
the  same  return.  This,  however,  is  not  all.  The  wheat  weighs  4000  tons, 
and  to  transport  this  to  New  York  and  thence  to  Liverpool  requires  more 
capital  in  wagons  and  canal  boats  than  would  have  been  required  to  produce 
the  iron  at  home ;  and  far  more  capital  employed  in  ships  than  would  have 
done  it ;  and  thus  we  have  a  total  of  seven  or  eight,  if  not  even  ten  times  the 
capital  that  is  needed,  while  the  return  is  precisely  the  same — 5000  tons  of 
iron. 

The  capital  invested  in  building  the  furnace,  the  houses,  and  in  preparing 
the  mines,  would  have  been  permanent,  and  it  would  have  given  value  to 
every  acre  around,  because  it  would  have  made  a  market  on  the  land  for 
the  products  of  the  land,  whereas,  the  wagons,  ships,  and  canal-boats  disap¬ 
pear  with  time  ;  and  the  land,  constantly  cropped,  becomes  exhausted,  and 
is  frequently  abandoned  by  the  owners,  and  thus  is  the  whole  wasted. 

The  farmer  will  say  that  he  could  have  obtained  no  more  iron  on  the  spot 
for  the  produce  of  his  land,  that  the  iron-master  paid  him  for  his  wheat  and 
charged  him  for  his  iron  according  to  the  price  in  Liverpool,  and  that  he 
profited  as  much  by  exchanging  in  the  one  place  as  in  the  other.  This  is  too 
nearly  true.  So  long  as  he  is  compelled  to  compete  with  the  inferior  labour 
of  Europe,  so  long  must  he  accept  this  as  a  consequence.  So  long  as  he  is 
dependent  on  England  for  a  market  for  a  single  million  of  bushels  of  wheat, 
she  will  fix  the  price  of  all  that  is  produced  ;  and  so  long  as  he  is  dependent 
on  her  for  the  last  few  thousand  tons  of  iron,  she  will  fix  the  price  of  all  that 


100 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


is  consumed.  He  needs  to  bring  the  home*  consumption  of  food  up  to  the 
production,  and  the  home  production  of  iron  up  to  the  consumption,  and 
the  price  of  both  will  then  be  fixed  at  home.  A  little  capital  will  then  yield 
much  iron.  Now,  much  capital  is  required  to  produce  little  iron. 

It  has  been  shown  (page  74,)  that  the  whole  of  the  cotton,  311,000,000 
of  pounds,  consumed  by  the  people  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  in  1845 
and  1846,  would  have  been  paid  for  by  6,250,000  pieces  of  plain  cottons,  and 
210,000  tons  of  iron,  delivered  in  Liverpool.  By  the  time  this  cloth  and 
iron  reached  the  plantation  they  would  have  shrunk  into  5,000,000  pieces 
of  cloth  (120,000,000  of  yards)  and  160,000  tons  of  iron;  and  perhaps  into 
a  still  smaller  compass,  even  supposing  them  imported  duty  free.  To  have 
produced  this  120,000,000  yards  of  cloth  in  those  two  years  would  have 
required  20  mills  of  moderate  size,  each  capable  of  converting  into  cloth 
2000  bales  of  cotton,  and  to  have  produced  this  iron  would  have  required 
little  more  than  two  establishments,  such  as  the  one  described  at  page  42, 
as  existing  in  the  Lehigh  region  of  Pennsylvania. 

To  transport  the  700,000  bales  of  cotton  must  have  required  60  ships, 
each  carrying  2000  bales,  and  making  three  voyages  a  year.  Add  to  these, 
steamboats,  warehouses,  packing-machinery,  &c.,  on  this  side  of  the  Atlan¬ 
tic,  and  the  docks,  drays,  warehouses,  cars,  railroads,  &c.  on  the  other  side, 
and  it  will  be  found  that  the  capital  required  for  the  work  of  transporting 
these  311,000,000,  after  they  had  reached  the  place  of  shipment ,  was 
three  times  more  than  would  have  furnished  machinery  that  would 
have  enabled  the  planter  to  convert  the  whole  of  them  on  the  spot.  For  all 
this  the  planter  pays ,  and  therefore  it  is  that  we  find  him  to  have  sent  away 
31 1,000,000  of  pounds  of  cotton,  to  be  exchanged  in  Liverpool  for  74,000,000 
of  pounds  in  the  form  of  cloth,  and  then  to  be  reduced  to  60,000,000  by 
the  time  they  arrive  on  the  plantation,  thus  giving  five  pounds  of  cotton  for 
one  yard  of  cloth.  It  is  obvious  that,  even  thus  far,  much  capital  is  required 
to  obtain  small  product. 

Let  us  now  see  what  was  the  amount  employed  by  the  planter  in  produc¬ 
ing,  at  the  place  of  shipment,  the  250,000,000  of  pounds  that  he  gave  in  those 
two  years  to  the  people  of  England,  for  twisting  and  weaving  the  60,000,000 
that  came  back  in  the  form  of  cloth.  The  annual  average  is  155,000,000  sent 
out,  and  30,000,000  returned,  125,000,000  being  lost  on  the  road.  The  ave¬ 
rage  product  of  cotton  land  is  under  300  pounds  an  acre,  at  which  rate  416,000 
acres  would  be  required  for  the  production  of  the  125,000,000,  saying  nothing 
of  the  remainder  of  the  various  plantations  not  under  cultivation.  The  average 
amount  of  labour,  per  acre,  required  to  fit  these  lands  for  production,  includ¬ 
ing  fencing,  houses,  machinery,  gin-houses,  roads,  &c.,  has  not  been  less 
than  one  hundred  days,  and  I  should  be  safe  in  putting  it  much  higher. 
Estimating  those  days  at  only  50  cents  each,  we  obtain  $50  as  the  actual 
expenditure  required  for  each  acre  of  land,  at  which  rate  the  capital  in  land 
would  be  $20,800,000.  Estimating  the  hands  employed  at  no  more  than 
the  land,  we  have  a  further  sum  of  $20,800,000.  Next,  we  have  the  capital 
employed  in  transportation  to  the  place  of  shipment,  and  that  some  idea 
may  be  formed  of  that,  I  give  the  following  statement,  by  one  who  furnishes 
it  as  the  result  of  his  personal  observation: — 

• 

;t  Of  the  expense  of  this  first  movement,  some  idea  may  be  formed  by  those  who  have 
seen  it  coming  over  dreadful  roads,  up  to  the  hub,  dragged  slowly  along  20,  30,  or  40 
miles,  as  we  have  seen  it  coming  into  Natchez  and  Vicksburg,  hauled  by  five  yoke  of 
oxen  carrying  2800  to  3000  pounds,  and  so  slowly  that  motion  was  scarcely  perceptible. 
So  many  perish  in  the  yoke  in  winter  and  spring  that  it  has  been  said,  with  some  exag¬ 
geration,  that  you  might  walk  on  dead  oxen  from  Jackson  to  Vicksburg.  That  was  be¬ 
fore  the  railroad  was  made.  A  wagon  is  loaded  up,  say  14  miles  from  Natchez,  and 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


101 


started  at  night,  and  reaches  there  in  time  to  get  back  the  next  night  time  enough  to  “  load 
up.”  Thus  ten  oxen  have  been  wearing  and  tearing  and  dropping  their  manure  on  the 
road  for  24  hours  to  make  one  load.”* 

Here  we  have  five  yoke  of  oxen  transporting  3000  pounds  in  a  day,  a  dis¬ 
tance  of  only  fourteen  miles*  Supposing  the  average  distance  to  he  75  miles, 
and  the  roads  to  be  similar,  it  would  take  them,  on  an  average ,  a  week  to 
transport  that  quantity  from  the  plantation  to  the  place  of  shipment.  I  will, 
however,  suppose  that  a  single  yoke  of  oxen  can  transport  four  bales,  or 
1800  pounds,  per  week.  The  number  of  loads  would  be  70,000,  to  be 
transported  in  the  shipping  season,  which  averages  about  eight  months.  To 
do  this  would  require,  always  on  the  road, 

2300  wagons,  average  cost  $80,  .  .  .  $175,000 

4400  oxen,  “  “  $40,  .  .  .  175,000 

2200  men,  “  “  $600,  .  .  .  1,320,000 


1,670,000 


Total  capital,  ....  $43,270,000 

This  is  a  very  low  estimate  of  the  fixed  labour,  called  capital,  given  to  the 
production  at  the  place  of  shipment  of  these  125,000,000  of  pounds  of  cotton. 
Let  us  now  see  how  much  is  the  fixed  capital,  the  use  of  which  is  given  by 
the  distant  manufacturers  in  exchange  for  all  this.  A  mill  that  will  work  up 
2000  bales  of  cotton  can  readily  be  produced  at  a  cost  not  exceeding 
$100,000.  These  2000  bales  contain  900,000  pounds  of  cotton.  Thirty-four 
such  mills  would  work  up  30,000,000  of  pounds,  and  the  cost  of  all  these 
mills  would  be  $3,000,000,  or  about  one-fifteenth  of  the  capital  employed  by 
the  planter.  Need  we  wonder  that  the  planter’s  capital  yields  him  a  small 
return  ? 

The  more  directly  power  is  applied,  the  more  efficiently  it  is  applied. 
The  more  machinery  that  intervenes,  the  less  is  the  power  and  the  smaller  the 
effect.  The  planter  obtains  his  cloth  and  iron  by  the  indirect  means  of 
raising  cotton  and  food  to  send  abroad,  whereas,  if  he  would  apply  his  power 
directly  to  the  production  of  both,  production  would  be  doubled  and  his 
power  of  accumulation  quadrupled.  Had  the  planters  of  1845  and  ’46,  pro¬ 
vided  themselves  with  machinery  for  the  conversion  of  cotton  into  cloth,  to 
the  extent  of  the  155,000,009  consumed  in  England,  they  would  have  seen 
furnaces  rise  among  them  capable  of  producing  treble  the  iron  they  could 
have  obtained  for  that  cotton,  and  thus  would  have  been  made  a  market  on  the 
land  for  the  products  of  the  land,  the  result  of  which  would  have  been  that 
they  would  have  obtained  far  more  for  the  balance  of  their  crop  than  they 
did  obtain  for  the  whole.  The  produce  of  those  155,000,000  would  then 
have  bought  them  iron  sufficient  to  make  many  hundred  miles  of  railroad, 
and  thus,  while  diminishing  their  necessity  for  resorting  to  distant  mar¬ 
kets,  they  would  have  increased  their  power  so  to  do,  by  increasing  their 
capital.  It  will  be  said,  however,  that  while  the  labour  employed  in  pro¬ 
ducing  the  cotton  is  set  down,  there  is  no  allowance  for  that  required  for  its 
conversion  into  cloth.  No  such  allowance  is  needed.  The  labour  of  men, 
women,  and  children,  now  absolutely  wasted  in  every  county  of  the  South 
is  more  than  would  be  required  for  five  such  mills,  and  the  cotton  that  is 
lost  for  want  of  aid  in  harvest-time  would  twice  over  pay  for  it. 

The  whole  of  those  125,000,000  of  pounds  of  cotton  consumed  by  the  people 
of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  was  thus  absolutely  wasted,  and  therefore  it  was 


*  Skinner’s  Journal  of  Agriculture,  Yol.  III.,  p.  483. 


102 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


that  the  planter  obtained  one  pound  of  cotton  in  exchange  for  five.  Could  the 
charges  be  saved  that  now  intervene  between  the  planter  on  one  side,  and 
the  spinner  and  weaver  on  the  other,  he  would  obtain  two  pounds  of  cloth 
for  three  of  cotton,  and  to  acomplish  this  there  is  but  one  mode  of  proceed¬ 
ing,  and  that  is  to  persuade  the  machinery  to  come  to  the  cotton ,  and  thus 
obviate  the  necessity  for  sending  the  cotton  to  the  machinery.  At  present, 
we  seem  to  be  pursuing  the  same  course  that  would  be  pursued  by  the 
man  who  should  expend  hundreds  of  thousands  of  days  of  labour  in  clearing 
and  cultivating  land  for  the  production  of  wheat,  and  then  wasting  two- 
thirds  of  it  on  the  road  to  and  from  the  distant  mill,  for  want  of  the  applica¬ 
tion  of  three  or  four  thousand  days  of  labour  to  put  up  a  mill  on  his  own  land* 
A  grist-mill  costing  5,000  days  of  labour  will  grind  all  the  grain  produced 
upon  land  that  has  cost  300,000,  and  perhaps  500,000,  days  of  labour  to 
place  it  in  its  existing  condition ;  and  yet  the  man  above  referred  to,  would 
waste  on  the  road  annually  more  days  than  would  build  such  an  one. 
So  it  is  with  our  planters  and  farmers.  We  see  in  every  little  com¬ 
munity  that  mills  speedily  rise  for  the  conversion  of  grain  into  flour, 
and  are  satisfied  with  one-eighth  toll ;  and  so  we  see  in  every  neighbour¬ 
hood,  where  there  are  timber  and  a  little  water-power,  saw-mills  are  got  up 
for  converting  lumber  into  boards  ;  and  with  each  such  operation,  flour  and 
boards  are  obtained  at  less  cost  of  labour,  and  the  farmer  has  to  give  less 
of  wheat,  and  of  timber,  to  have  them  converted  into  flour  and  boards.  What 
would  the  wheat-grower  say  who  should  have  to  give  five  bushels  for  get¬ 
ting  one  back  in  flour* — and  what  should  the  cotton-grower  say  to  getting 
back  one  bale  of  cotton  in  the  form  of  cloth  ?  Let  him  reflect  on  this  question,  and 
then  answer  the  following  one  :  Why  should  not  every  community  of  some¬ 
what  larger  size  have  in  like  manner  its  own  place  for  converting  cotton 
into  cloth  ?  Could  that  be  done,  the  planter  would  obtain  half  the  cloth 
yielded  by  his  cotton. 

The  latter  will  at  first  view  probably  deny  this.  He  will  say:  If  I  sell 
my  cotton  to  go  to  Manchester,  it  will  produce  me  five  cents.  If  I  sell  it  to 
the  manufacturer  on  the  ground,  he  will  give  me  no  more.  If  I  buy  English 
cloth,  it  will  cost  me  ten.  If  I  had  a  manufacturer  on  the  ground,  I  should 
pay  the  same.  Such  must  be  the  case  so  long  as  he  shall  find  himself 
compelled  to  compete  in  the  market  of  England  with  the  poor  Hindoo  for 
the  sale  of  his  cotton,  and  compelled  to  purchase  there,  a  part  of  his  supply 
of  cloth,  for  so  long  will  the  prices  of  both  be  fixed  in  Liverpool.  With  every 
step  in  the  progress  of  emancipation,  however,  he  would  find  himself  a 
gainer.  Let  him  look  around  and  see  how  much  of  the  labour  of  his  neigh¬ 
bourhood  and  of  his  own  plantation  is  wasted  for  want  of  the  demand  that 
would  be  produced  by  the  vicinity  of  the  factory  ;  and  then  let  him  reflect 
upon  the  advantage  to  be  derived  from  having,  in  that  factory,  a  place  of 
employment  throughout  the  year,  of  the  persons  who  might,  in  case  of  need, 
aid  him  in  his  picking,  and  thus  save  for  him  the  labour  that  is  now  lost  on 
cotton  wasted  in  the  field,  or  overtaken  there  by  frost.  Let  him  consider 
these  things,  and  he  will  probably  find  that  the  loss  in  them  alone  is  equal 
to  the  value  of  the  labour  required  for  the  conversion  of  all  the  cotton  of  the 
neighbourhood  into  yarn.  If  they  could  be  saved,  and  he  could  thus,  with 


*  “In  some  places  in  Virginia — in  Rappahanoclc,  for  instance — the  farmer  does  pay  as 
much  as  one  barrel  to  get  four  transported  to  Fredericksburgh,  apparently  not  stopping  to 
calculate  at  what  price  and  what  yield  per  acre  that  becomes  a  losing  game,  and  appa¬ 
rently  not  reflecting,  that  while  they  pay  25  cents  for  transporting  one  dollar’s  worth  of 
wheat  they  could  transport  the  same  weight,  or  fifteen  dollars’  worth  of  wool — or  $7  50 
of  cheese,  or  $18  worth  of  live  beef — at  the  same  cost!" — Ibid. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


103 


the  same  labour,  send  yarn  to  market  instead  of  cotton,  he  and  his  neigh¬ 
bours  would  be  great  gainers  by  the  operation. 

Having  done  this,  let  him  look  to  the  price  at  which  he  sells  his  corn,  and 
see  what  would  be  the  difference  to  him  if  he  had  a  market  on  the  ground 
in  consequence  of  the  conversion  of  some  of  his  neighbours  into  mechanics, 
mill  operatives,  &c.  Instead  of  remaining  poor  on  the  produce  of  little 
pieces  of  land,  they  would  obtain  good  wages,  and  consume  double  their 
present  quantity,  while  producing  none.  He  would  at  once  save  much  of 
the  cost  of  transportation.  He  would  sell  food  at  home  instead  of  having 
to  buy  it,  with  cost  of  commissions  and  transportation  from  his  own  neigh¬ 
bourhood  added  to  it  to  increase  its  price,  at  Manchester  or  Lowell,  and  all 
would  be  great  gainers  by  the  operation. 

Let  him  then  look  to  his  cleared  land,  and  study  what  would  be  its  value 
if  all  the  manure  yielded  by  his  hay,  and  oats,  and  corn,  and  fodder,  went 
back  upon  the  land,  instead  of  being  wasted  on  the  road,  and  if  all  of  that 
yielded  by  his  wheat  and  corn  remained  upon  the  ground  instead  of  going 
to  Lowell  or  Manchester,  and  see  if  he  would  not  be  a  gainer  by  the 
operation. 

Let  him  then  look  to  his  uncleared  land,  and  calculate  how  much  it  would 
cost  him  to  destroy  the  timber.  Let  him  then  calculate  the  value  of  the 
timber,  if  the  factory  were  near  him,  and  if  the  blacksmith  and  the  shoe¬ 
maker,  the  hatter,  and  the  tanner,  the  bricklayer  and  the  carpenter,  wanted 
houses  ;  and  if  a  town  were  growing  up  around  the  mill,  and  its  inhabitants 
wanting  pork  and  meal,  and  milk,  and  beef,  and  flour,  and  potatoes,  and 
mutton,  and  see  if  he  would  not  be  a  gainer  by  the  operation. 

Let  him  look  to  the  quantity  of  land  upon  which  this  timber  stands,  and 
on  which  he  is  paying,  or  losing,  interest.  Let  him  then  look  to  the  quality 
of  that  land,  and  compare  it  with  that  which  he  now  cultivates.  Let  him  calcu¬ 
late  how  many  bushels  of  potatoes  it  would  yield,  and  compare  their  value, 
when  consumed  upon  the  ground,  with  that  of  the  300  pounds  of  cotton 
now  yielded  by  an  acre,  and  see  if  he  would  not  be  a  gainer  by  the 
operation. 

Let  him  add  all  these  things  together,  and  see  if  he  would  not  save  all 
the  freights  and  commissions ;  even  although  he  obtained  no  more  for 
his  cotton,  and  paid  as  much  for  his  cloth.  Let  him  see  if  he  would  not 
obtain  the  full  value  of  his  cotton,  instead  of,  as  now,  obtaining  but  one- 
third  of  it. 

The  great  cities  and  towns  of  the  world  are  built  up  out  of  the  spoils  of 
the  farmer  and  planter.  Looking  around  in  New  York,  or  in  Philadelphia, 
or  Boston,  it  is  not  possible  to  avoid  being  struck  with  the  number  of  per¬ 
sons  who  live  by  merely  exchanging — passing  from  the  producer  to  the 
consumer — producing  nothing  themselves.  Wagons  and  wagoners,  carts 
and  cartmen,  boats  and  boatmen,  ships  and  sailors,  are  everywhere  carrying 
about  cotton,  and  wool,  and  corn,  and  wheat,  and  flour,  as  if  for  the  pleasure 
of  doing  it.  The  man  of  Tennessee  sends  his  cotton  to  Manchester  to  be 
twisted.  His  corn  goes  along  with  it,  to  feed  the  man  who  twists  it.  It 
leaves  him  worth  twenty  cents.  By  the  time  it  is  consumed  by  the  Man¬ 
chester  spinner,  it  is  worth,  perhaps  a  dollar.  The  labourer  buys  it  at  that 
price.  The  manufacturer  gives  him  a  dollar  to  pay  for  it,  and  he  charges 
it  to  the  cloth  at  $1  10.  The  corn  and  cotton  become  cloth,  and  the  Ten¬ 
nessee  man  buys  it  back,  paying  Jive  bales  for  one !  He  can  sometimes 
send  his  corn,  but  he  can  never  send  his  potatoes,  and  the  reason  why  he 
cannot  is,  that  they  are  of  the  class  of  commodities  of  which  the  earth  yields 
so  largely  that  they  will  not  pay  freight.  The  only  things  he  can  raise  for 
market  are  those  of  which  the  earth  yields  little,  and  that  will  therefore  pay 


104 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


freight.  He  raises  three  hundred  pounds  of  cotton,  all  of  which  goes  to  market, 
bringing  him  hack  but  sixty  fashioned  into  cloth ;  returning  nothing  to  the 
land  of  what  it  drew  out  of  the  land,  whereas,  if  he  had  consumers  near 
him,  he  would  raise  almost  as  many  bushels  of  potatoes,  the  manure  for 
which  would  go  upon  the  land  to  enrich  it,  and  make  himself  rich.  He 
could  then  afford  to  clear,  and  ditch,  and  drain,  and  cultivate  the  richest 
land,  now  covered  with  timber,  or  with  water. 

Why  does  he  not  do  these  things?  Why  does  he  not  convert  the  un¬ 
profitable  consumers,  everywhere  around  him,  into  profitable  ones  ?*  Why 
does  he  continue,  year  after  year,  to  send  his  grain,  or  cotton,  to  the  distant 
mill,  instead  of  bringing,  once  and  for  ever ,  the  mill  to  him  ?  The  reason 
may  be  found  in  the  newspapers  every  day.  Two  years  since,  cotton  manufac¬ 
turers,  wool  manufacturers,  and  iron  manufacturers  were  prosperous.  Now 
they  are  all  stopping  work.  Many  are  already  ruined,  and  many  more 
are  likely  so  to  be.  Why  is  this?  Does  it  arise  out  of  any  change  in  our 
own  affairs  ?  It  does  not.  It  arises  out  of  changes  abroad.  Two  years 
since,  England  made  railroads,  and  consumption  then  was  large.  This  year 
she  does  not  make  roads,  and  consumption  is  small.  Two  years  since,  we 
built  factories  and  furnaces.  This  year,  manufacturers  and  furnace-builders 
are  ruined.  All  of  them  would  be  ruined,  had  they  not  a  Tariff  of  pro¬ 
tection,  inadequate  as  is  that  of  1846,  to  give  them  that  protection  that  is 
needed  to  secure  them  against  such  changes.  Prosperous  they  would  now 
be,  had  the  tariff  of  1842  remained  unaltered;  and  the  thousands  em¬ 
ployed  in  them  would  have  remained  profitable  customers  for  the  farmers, 
instead  of  being  driven  over  the  country  to  become  the  rivals  of  the  farmer, 
increasing  the  quantity  of  provisions,  of  which  there  is  already  a  redun¬ 
dance. 

The  capital  employed  in  the  transport  of  cotton  is  more  than  would  build 
mills  to  convert  the  whole  crop  into  cloth.  The  mill  is  saved  labour.  The 
transportation  is  labour  lost,  never  to  be  regained.  The  mills  once  built, 
the  whole  of  that  labour  might  be  applied  to  the  work  of  production,  for 


*  The  following  picture  of  some  of  these  unprofitable  consumers  is  from  a  letter  to  the 
correspondent  of  “  The  New  York  Herald:” — 

“ 1  travelled  yesterday  over  a  public  road  twenty  miles,  and  stopped  at  nearly  every 
house.  They  were  occupied  by  what  are  called  ‘  the  poor  white  people.’  I  found  fifty 
log-houses  on  my  route.  You  pass  through  a  forest  and  come  to  cleared  land.  You  see  on 
one  side  of  the  road  a  field  of  corn,  say  five  to  ten  acres ;  off  a  few  rods  back  from  the  road, 
amid  this  corn  stands  a  log  cabin,  the  smoke  curling  up  in  blue  wreaths  even  in  these 
hot  days.  There  is  a  wicket  gate  opening  from  the  road,  through  which  you  pass  and 
follow  a  footpath  until  you  reach  the  entrance  of  the  cabin.  There  is  a  stone  for  a  step, 
and  you  enter.  The  woman  is  spinning.  She  asks  you  to  a  seat,  which  is  made  of 
hickory,  both  uprights  and  the  seat.  There  are  two  or  three  more  like  it.  In  the  corner 
of  the  room  is  a  bed  ;  the  fire-place  is  very  large,  and  the  chimney  is  built  of  mud  outside 
the  hut.  There  are  some  nails  for  hats  and  clothes.  There  is  a  rifle  on  wooden  pins;  a 
shelf,  with  a  few  articles  upon  it,  consisting  of  a  broken  comb,  a  Bible  printed  by  the 
American  Bible  Society,  and  a  case-knife.  In  a  corner  is  a  barrel.  Look  into  it,  and  you 
will  find  a  half  bushel  of  corn  meal  inside,  and  over  it,  on  a  string,  is  a  piece  of  bacon. 
There  is  a  cupboard  in  the  corner;  open  that,  and  perhaps  you  will  find  a  cup  and  saucer 
and  a  plate,  and  perhaps  you  won’t.  This  a  picture  from  the  life.  You  ask  for  the 
family — ‘  My  man  is  pulling  fodder.’  ^ ‘  How  many  children  have  you?’  ‘  Six  ;’  and  by 
and  by  you  will  see  the  whole  half  dozen  flaxy-headed  children  peeping  in  through  the 
crevices  of  the  hut,  for  in  the  summer  season,  as  there  are  no  windows,  the  filling  in  be¬ 
tween  the  logs  is  taken  out  for  air.  You  wonder  how  people  can  live  in  such  a  one-room 
den.  Yet  they  do  live,  and  get  on  very  well.  They  keep  a  cow  sometimes,  a  few  pigs 
to  make  ham  and  bacon,  and  they  raise  corn,  wheat,  and  oats.  The  cabin  is  worth  twenty 
dollars,  if  it  was  to  be  bought.” 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


105 


the  lost  labour  of  the  hands  upon  the  plantation,  and  of  the  “  poor  white 
people,”  everywhere  throughout  the  South,  is  more  than  would  be  required 
for  the  work  of  conversion.  Protection  seeks  to  enable  the  planter  to  save 
this  labour  and  accumulate  capital. 

It  is  said  to  be  “  a  war  upon  labour  and  capital but  it  would  here  cer¬ 
tainly  seem  to  be,  what  its  name  denotes,  protection  to  the  producer  of  food 
and  wool  against  a  system  which  compels  him  to  give  the  use  of  fifteen  dollars 
of  capital  in  exchange  for  the  use  of  one.  Its  object  is  that  of  promoting  con¬ 
centration.  That  of  the  system  falsely  called  free-trade  is  to  promote  dis¬ 
persion.  The  last  twelve  months  have  witnessed  the  expulsion  of  many 
thousands  of  men,  and  many  millions  of  capital  to  California,  not  one-tenth 
of  which  will  ever  return.  One  of  the  papers  of  the  day  states  that 

“  Considerable  excitement  has  been  created  here  (NewYork)  among  those  who  have  made 
shipments  of  merchandise  to  California,  by  the  receipt  of  letters  from  commission  houses 
in  San  Francisco,  containing  account  of  sales.  It  appears  that  the  charges  have,  in  several 
instances,  used  up  entirely  the  proceeds  of  the  sales.  We  hear  it  stated  in  dry-good  cir¬ 
cles,  that  one  of  our  largest  auction-houses  sent  out  over  two  hundred  thousand  dollars’ 
worth  of  dry-goods  last  winter,  for  which,  up  to  this  time,  they  have  received  no  proceeds.” 

Hundreds  of  ships  are  now  in  the  Pacific,  doing  nothing  and  earning 
nothing,  when  they  might  be  carrying  cotton,  and  we  are  now  building 
other  ships  to  replace  them.  The  capital  now  invested  in  those  ships  and 
in  California  would  have  built  mills  for  the  conversion  of  half  the  cotton  of 
the  South,  and  furnaces  for  the  production  of  as  much  iron  as  is  produced  in 
Great  Britain.  For  all  this  waste  of  capital  the  farmer  and  planter  pay,  for 
the  harmony  of  interests  is  so  perfect  that  the  losses  of  the  ship-owner  and 
manufacturer  are  invariably  borne,  in  largest  proportion,  by  them.* 


*  The  following  estimate  of  the  quantity  of  labour  and  capital  lost  by  ourselves  and 
wasted  in  California,  is  from  the  New  York  Herald,  and  is  not  far  from  the  truth : — 

« It  is  estimated  that  about  500  vessels  had,  up  to  the  1st  of  November,  arrived  at  San 
Francisco,  from  the  United  States  and  Europe,  and  that  at  least  100,000  people  were,  at 
that  time,  in  California.  The  average  cost  of  outfit  for  each  person  cannot  be  less  than 
$200,  which  makes  an  aggregate  of  $20,000,000.  It  will  cost  an  average  of  at  least  $300 
per  annum  for  each  to  live.  This  amounts  to  $30,000,000.  This  makes  a  total  of 
$50,000,000,  for  the  bare  outfit  and  provisions  for  one  year.  The  500  vessels  which  had 
arrived,  at  the  latest  date,  and  the  500  on  the  way,  are  worth,  on  an  average,  about 
$10,000  each,  which  amounts  to  $10,000,000.  The  time  of  each  individual  we  estimate 
to  be  worth,  on  an  average,  $200 — total,  $20,000,000.  Grand  total  of  outfit,  cost  of  living 
one  year,  cost  of  vessels  engaged  in  the  trade,  and  value  of  time  one  year,  $80,000,000. 
This  is  a  moderate  calculation,  as  the  actual  outlay  and  absorption  of  capital,  up  to  this 
time,  will  probably  amount  to  full  $100,000,000.  As  an  offset  to  this  we  have  thus  far 
received  about  six  millions  of  dollars  ($6,000,000)  in  gold  dust,  from  California  and  the 
whole  Pacific  coast.  It  will  be  perceived  that  there  is  still  an  enormous  balance  against 
California,  and  that  it  will  be  a  long  time,  at  the  rate  already  realized,  before  we  shall 
receive  even  the  sum  expended,  to  say  nothing  about  profits.  It  is  our  impression  that 
most  of  those  engaged  in  the  trade  would  be  satisfied  with  merely  the  cost  of  their  ship¬ 
ments.  Most  of  them  have  abandoned  all  idea  of  profits,  and  many  of  them  will  never 
realize  a  cent :  the  charges,  such  as  freight,  storage,  &c.,  will  eat  up  every  mill  of  first 
cost.  The  only  product  of  California,  to  pay  for  this  immense  amount  of  property,  is  gold. 
At  present  it  has  no  other  resource,  and  we  know  of  none  but  its  minerals.  It  is  now  a 
little  more  than  twelve  months  since  the  emigration  to  California  commenced,  and  there 
has  never  been  known,  in  the  history  of  the  world,  such  a  movement  as  has  been  pre¬ 
sented  in  this.  Independent  of  the  hundreds  of  vessels  which  have  departed  from  all 
parts  of  the  world  for  California,  we  have  nearly  a  dozen  of  the  finest  steamships  in  the 
world,  regularly  employed  in  carrying  passengers  and  the  mail  between  this  port  and 
San  Francisco,  via  Chagres  and  Panama.  Several  large  steamers  are  now  on  the  way 
round,  to  take  their  place  in  the  line  from  Panama  to  San  Francisco,  and  in  a  short  time 
we  shall  have  two  or  three  more  on  the  line  between  this  city  and  Chagres.” 


106 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS.' 


The  landowners  of  the  world  are  the  great  capitalists.  The  exchangers 
are  the  small  ones,  and  yet  they  and  their  machinery  absorb  the  chief  part 
of  the  products  of  the  land,  which  therefore  yields  but  small  return  to  the 
labour  employed  in  its  preparation  for  production.  Almost  everywhere 
throughout  this  country  it  is  of  small  value,  rarely  exceeding  the  cost  of 
fencing  and  buildings.  That  it  may  be  otherwise,  and  that  landowners  may 
grow  rich,  it  is  required  that  they  bring  the  loom  to  the  cotton,  and  the  anvil 
to  the  food,  instead  of  sending  the  mass  of  cotton  and  food,  year  after  year, 
in  search  of  the  loom  and  the  anvil. 

How  rapidly  their  capital  is  capable  of  accumulating  is  a  lesson  that  the 
mass  of  the  farmers  and  planters  of  the  Union  have  yet  to  learn.  The  first, 
settlement  of  land  involves  a  large  amount  of  labour  ;  but  here,  as  in  many 
other  cases,  it  is  the  first  step  that  is  the  most  costly.  The  land  cleared, 
the  farm  enclosed,  the  house  built,  and  the  road  made,  the  cost  of  transporta¬ 
tion  still  absorbs  so  large  a  portion  of  the  product  that  the  whole  has  little 
value.  The  making  of  a  railroad  doubles  it,  but  the  quantity  of  cloth  or 
iron  that  can  be  obtained  for  wheat  or  cotton  is  yet  so  small  that  the  land 
has  still  but  little  value.  To  bring  the  furnace  or  the  cotton  mill  to  the  spot, 
and  thus  to  make  a  market  on  the  land  for  the  products  of  the  land,  requires 
an  amount  of  labour  that  is  absolutely  insignificant  compared  with  the 
amount  already  expended,  and  yet  it  doubles  the  value  of  all  around.  The 
sole  cause  of  the  difference  in  the  value  of  land  anywhere — quality  being 
equal — is  to  be  found  in  the  proximity  to,  or  distance  from,  market. 

Let  us  now  suppose  that  during  the  last  twenty  years  we  had  annually 
appropriated  a  small  part  of  the  labour  that  has  been  wasted  on  the  road, 
and  a  small  portion  of  the  food  and  cotton  that  have  been  lost  in  distant  mar¬ 
kets,  to  the  building  of  furnaces  and  the  erection  of  cotton  mills,  and  that 
the  Southern  States  now  possessed  a  hundred  of  the  former,  each  capable 
of  producing  5000  tons  of  iron,  and  rolling  mills  to  convert  it  into  bars,  and 
the  latter  capable  of  converting  into  cloth  500,000  bales  of  cotton,  and  that 
the  spare  labour  of  their  hands  had  been  employed  in  grading  roads  upon 
which  they  had  been  for  years  laying  the  bars  produced  in  their  own  fur¬ 
naces  and  mills,  and  see  what  would  be  the  result.  Throughout  the  whole 
South  there  would  have  been  a  market  at  hand  for  a  large  portion  of  their 
products,  while  every  part  would  be  enjoying  facilities  for  transporting  its 
surplus  food  or  cotton  to  distant  markets  at  one-fifth  of  the  present  cost,  and 
thus  the  land  of  every  part  would  have  been  acquiring  value,  to  an  extent 
almost  incalculable.  The  planting  States  have  400,000,000  of  acres,  and 
the  addition  of  ten  dollars  an  acre  to  the  present  value  would  amount  to 
four  thousand  millions  of  dollars,  while  the  cost  of  building  furnaces,  rolling- 
mills,  and  all  other  of  the  machinery  necessary  to  have  covered  those  States 
with  roads,  and  filled  them  with  machinery  to  enable  them  to  convert  into 
cloth  as  much  cotton  as  would  free  them  from  all  dependence  on  the  move¬ 
ments  of  distant  markets,  making  them  independent,  would  not  have  been 
fifty  millions,  and  yet,  large  as  it  may  seem,  the  return  would  have  been  an 
augmentation  of  capital  counting  by  thousands  of  millions. 

An  addition  of  one  dollar  an  acre  in  the  annual  value,  or  rent,  of  a  plan¬ 
tation,  would  add  more  than  ten  dollars  an  acre  to  its  value.  The  farmer 
now  sends  his  corn  to  market  and  brings  back  twenty  cents,  yet  the  con¬ 
sumer  pays  fifty.  He  brings  back  iron  that  costs  him  300  bushels  per  ton, 
yet  the  producer  of  that  iron  obtains  but  25.  Had  the  iron  and  cotton 
manufactures  been  allowed  to  develope  themselves  throughout  \  irginia, 
Tennessee,  Alabama,  and  other  of  the  Southern  States,  60  bushels  of  corn, 
or  half  a  bale  of  cotton,  would  this  day  pay  for  a  ton  of  iron,  and  if  that  were 
the  case,  what  would  now  be  the  value  of  land?  Would  it  not  be  greater 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


107 


than  at  present  by  more  than  twenty  dollars  an  acre  ?  If  so,  would  not  that 
amount  to  eight  thousand  millions  of  dollars  ?  It  is  almost  inconceivable 
how  trivial  is  the  amount  of  capital  required  to  double,  treble,  or  quadruple 
the  value  of  land,  after  the  first  and  most  expensive  process,  that  of  the  first 
occupation,  has  been  performed. 

Let  us  now  look  to  the  state  of  things  in  England.  The  great  field  of 
employment  for  capital  is  the  land.  The  number  of  acres  in  the  United 
Kingdom  is  sixty-four  millions.  An  expenditure  of  labour  to  the  extent  of 
only  twenty  shillings  per  acre  would  absorb  the  enormous  sum  of  three 
hundred  millions  of  dollars,  and  an  average  of  three  guineas  per  acre  would 
absorb  one  thousand  millions ;  whereas  the  whole  capital  employed  in  the 
cotton  manufacture  is  but  thirty-four  millions  of  pounds,*  or  about  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  sixty  millions  of  dollars,  and  that  invested  in  shipping  is  but  little 
more.  Now,  if  we  suppose  one-half  of  the  cotton  machinery  to  be  for 
the  domestic  trade,  and  the  other  half  for  the  foreign,  and  one-half  of  the 
navigation  to  be  for  home  purposes,  including  the  procuring  of  tea,  coffee, 
sugar,  silk,  &c.,  for  the  home  market — and  the  other  half  to  be  for  other 
purposes,  the  result  will  be  that  the  market  for  capital  provided  by  the  fo¬ 
reign  trade  is  but  one-sixth  of  what  would  be  required  for  agriculture,  at 
only  three  pounds  per  acre.  If  we  take  the  average  duration  of  ships  and 
machinery  to  be  ten  years,  we  have  an  annual  demand  by  the  foreign  trade 
for  three  millions  only,  being  equal  to  less  than  one  shilling  per  acre  an¬ 
nually  invested  in  the  improvement  of  land.  No  one  who  is  familiar  with 
the  condition  of  Irish  agriculture,  and  of  a  large  portion  of  that  of  Eng¬ 
land  and  Scotland,  can  doubt  that  the  expenditure  of  twenty  times  that  amount 
in  the  gradual  improvement  of  cultivation,  and  in  the  improvement  of  com¬ 
munications  would  be  attended  with  a  large  return.  Land,  however,  is 
everywhere  centralized  in  the  hands  of  great  owners,  and  cultivated  by 
great  farmers ;  and  the  consequence  is,  that  capital  does  not  find  employ¬ 
ment  in  its  improvement,  and  has  to  seek  a  vent  in  manufactures  and  com¬ 
merce,  which,  together,  afford  a  field  so  small,  that  competition  is  great 
and  the  rate  of  profit  is  very  low. 

The  savings  of  Ireland  are  forced  into  England,  because  of  the  absence 
of  all  modes  of  local  investment.  From  1821  to  1833,  no  less  than  ten 
millions  of  pounds  were  thus  transferred;  and  later  statements  show  that  the 
course  of  events  from  that  time  to  the  present  has  been  nearly  the  same. 

Of  the  deposits  in  the  Scottish  banks,  a  large  portion  is  habitually  invested 
in  the  funds ;  and  thus,  local  investment  being  prevented,  there  is  a  constant 
pressure  upon  the  centre,  which  deprives  the  capitalists,  great  and  small,  of 
remuneration. 

The  natural  consequence  of  this  absence  of  facilities  for  applying  capital 
at  the  places  at  which  it  is  owned,  is  the  accumulation  of  large  quantities 
in  London,  for  which  a  market  is  to  be  sought  at  low  rates  of  interest. 
Foreigners  are  then  invited  to  borrow  money — that  is  to  say,  to  buy  cloth 
and  iron  on  credit? — and  then  when  by  this  process  the  unemployed  capital 
has  been  scattered  to  different  parts  of  the  earth,  there  comes  a  crisis, 
and  the  debts  are  called  in,  with  bankruptcy  to  the  debtors  of  England, 
and  wide-spread  ruin  among  the  merchants  of  England.  Such  is  the  his¬ 
tory  of  the  period  from  1835  to  1842,  ending  in  bankruptcy  and  repudia¬ 
tion.  Such  is  the  history,  so  far,  of  the  tariff  of  ’46.  We  have  bought 
from  thirty  to  forty  millions  of  dollars  of  goods  on  credit,  and  the  day  of 
payment  must  come. 

By  a  succession  of  operations  of  this  kind  all  the  customers  of  England 


•  McCulloch’s  Statistics,  Yol.  I.  p.  78. 


108 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


had  been  ruined,  and  there  remained,  in  1842,  no  foreign  country  that  could 
be  trusted.  Capital  appeared  superabundant.  Interest  was  very  low,  and 
there  appeared  no  prospect  of  improvement.  Every  thing  was  prepared  for 
a  great  home  speculation,  and  the  railroad  soon  became  the  hobby  of  the  day. 
It  was  a  great  lottery,  in  wffiich  peers  and  paupers,  hankers  and  half-pay 
officers,  clergymen  and  pickpockets,  bought  tickets,  all  certain  of  drawing 
prizes.  Five  thousand  miles  of  road  have  been  made,  at  a  nominal  cost  of 
£148,000,000,*  hut  the  larger  portion  of  this  vast  sum  has  been  merely  a 
transfer  from  the  pocket  of  one  gambler  into  that  of  another,  as  may  be  seen 
from  the  following  statement.  The  mere  Parliamentary  expenses!  of  the 
Blackwall  railway  amounted  to,  .  .  .  per  mile ,  $70,000- 

Those  of  the  Manchester  and  Birmingham  to  .  “  25,000 

And  those  of  the  Eastern  Counties’  road  to  .  .  “  23,000 

The  amount  allowed  for  land  by  the  Manchester  and 


80,000 

75,000 


Birmingham,  was  . 
Eastern  counties 


u 


In  this  manner,  the  cost  of  the  works  executed  was  swelled  to  $250,000, 
$300,000,  $400,000,  and  in  one  case  to  $1,400,000  per  mile,  the  conse¬ 
quence  of  which  has  been  that  while  the  designing  few  have  been  enriched, 
the  many  have  been  ruined,  and  England  is  covered  with  the  wrecks  of  this 
disastrous  speculation,  which  owed  its  existence  to  the  fact  that  the  whole 
policy  of  the  country  tended  to  force  capital  into  commerce  and  manufactures, 
which  afford  the  smallest  field  for  its  employment,  and  to  drive  it  from  agri¬ 
culture,  the  only  one  that  affords  a  field  constantly  enlarging,  and  in  which 
an  almost  unlimited  amount  of  labour  and  capital  might  be  employed  at  a 
constantly  increasing  rate  of  return. 

The  manner  in  which  the  system  operates  upon  the  moneyed  capitalist  here 
is  now  to  be  examined.  In  1835,  as  we  have  seen,  the  natural  outlets  for  capital 
were  closed.  We  ceased  to  build  mills,  furnaces,  or  rolling-mills,  and  the 
building  of  ships  and  houses  was  diminished.  The  necessary  consequence 
of  this  blocking  up  of  capital  was,  that  the  price  of  dividend-paying  stocks 
rose,  and  this  produced  a  desire  to  create  new  stocks  with  the  then  idle  ca¬ 
pital.  Roads  and  canals  were  commenced  at  the  west  and  south-west,  banks 
were  created,  and  the  capitalist  was  led  to  believe  that  he  was  to  obtain  ten 
or  fifteen  per  cent,  per  annum  for  the  use  of  the  means  that  he  thus  placed 
under  the  control  of  strangers.  The  day  of  settlement,  however,  arrived. 
England  claimed  payment  for  the  cloth  and  iron ;  hut  the  means  by  which 
she  might  have  been  paid  were  scattered  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven, 
invested  in  unproductive  roads,  and  in  banks  that  were  ruined  by  the  failure 
of  their  debtors  ;  and  thus  were  wasted  as  many  millions  as  would  have 
built  furnaces  to  produce  quadruple  the  iron  we  ever  yet  have  used ,  and  con¬ 
verted  into  cloth  all  of  the  cotton  we  then  produced.  The  mass  of  smaller 
capitalists  were  ruined,  but  the  few  were  made  rich. 

We  are  now  moving  in  the  same  direction.  Money  is  said  to  he  cheap  ; 
that  is,  there  is  much  in  bank  at  the  credit  of  depositors,  for  which  they  are 
receiving  no  interest.  The  papers  of  the  day  informs  us  that  Western  city 
stocks  and  bonds  are  coming  into  demand;  and  here  we  have  the  beginning 
of  a  movement  similar  to  that  of  1836.  In  a  little  time  it  will  he  judged 
expedient  to  create  banks  at  a  distance,  and  then  a  little  while  and  England 
will  claim  payment  for  the  cloth  and  iron  we  are  now  buying  on  credit,  and 
then  will  be  re-enacted  the  scenes  of  1842. 


*  Herapath’s  Railway  Journal,  quoted  in  North  British  Review,  August,  1849. 
j- The  Parliamentary  expenses  of  1845,  ’6,  and  :7,  were  upwards  of  £10,000,000,  or 
$50,000,000. — Ibid. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


109 


If  we  desire  to  know  who  are  the  persons  from  whom  is  derived  the 
power  thus  to  derange  the  movements  of  the  world,  it  is  needed  only  to  look 
at  the  prices  of  cotton  and  yarn  between  the  periods  of  1844  and  1848,  as 
shown  in  a  former  chapter.  The  farmers  and  planters  of  the  world  first 
give  away  their  products,  then  borrow  a  part  of  them  in  the  forms  of  cloth 
and  iron,  and  when  ruined  by  the  operation  are  denounced  as  bankrupts 
and  swindlers. 

The  well-understood  interests  of  the  capitalists  of  all  nations  are  in  perfect 
harmony  with  each  other.  Whatever  tends  to  diminish  production  in  one, 
tends  to  diminish  the  return  to  capital  in  all.  The  British  system  is  “  a  war 
upon  the  labour  and  capital  of  the  world upon  her  own  as  well  as  that 
of  other  nations.  Its  effect  is  to  keep  the  return  to  the  capitalist  at  a  very 
low  point,  and  often  to  deprive  him  altogether  of  return,  and  all  because  it 
tends  to  compel  the  labourer  to  underwork  the  Hindoo  and  the  Russian,  and 
to  sink  him  to  their  level.  Therefore  it  is  that  labourers  and  capitalists  of 
other  nations  are  forced  to  resort  to  measures  of  protection.  The  immediate 
effect  of  the  adoption  of  efficient  and  complete  protection,  as  a  national  mea¬ 
sure,  would  be  the  transfer  to  this  country  of  an  immense  body  of  capital 
in  the  form  of  machinery,  followed  by  a  gradual  rise  in  the  rate  of  profit  abroad, 
which  would  tend  to  attain  a  level  with  our  own.  That  capital,  once  here, 
could  not  be  reclaimed.  Like  the  men  Ave  import,  it  would  stay,  and  the 
effect  that  would  follow  necessarily  from  its  transfer  would  be  an  increased 
import  of  men — of  all,  the  most  valuable  species  of  capital,  though  now,  in 
Europe,  the  most  despised. 

To  attain  perfect  freedom  of  trade,  we  need  to  raise  the  labourers  and 
capitalists  of  Europe  to  a  level  with  our  own.  The  colonial  system  tends 
to  depress  and  destroy  both. 

CHAPTER  FIFTEENTH. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  THE  LABOURER. 

Whenever  there  is  in  market  a  surplus  of  any  commodity,  whether  that 
surplus  be  the  effect  of  natural  or  artificial  causes,  the  price  of  the  whole 
tends  to  fall  to  that  at  which  the  last  portion  can  be  sold — and  whenever 
there  is  a  deficiency,  the  price  of  the  whole  tends  to  rise  to  that  point  at 
which  the  last  portion  that  is  needed  can  be  obtained.  Labour  is  a  com¬ 
modity,  the  owners  of  which  seek  to  exchange  with  other  persons,  giving  it 
in  the  form  of  sugar  or  cotton,  and  receiving  it  in  the  form  of  cloth  and  iron, 
and,  being  such,  it  is  subject  to  the  same  laws  as  all  other  commodities.  So 
long  as  there  shall  be  a  surplus  of  it  anywhere,  the  price  everywhere  tends  to 
fall  to  the  lowest  level.  With  the  diminution  of  the  surplus  anywhere,  the 
price  everywhere  will  tend  to  rise  to  a  level  with  the  highest. 

Mere  labour,  unaided  by  machinery,  can  effect  little.  The  man  who  has 
no  axe  cannot  fell  a  tree,  nor  can  he  who  has  no  spade  dig  the  earth.  The 
man  who  has  no  reaping-hook  must  pull  up  the  grain,  and  he  who  has  no 
horse  or  cart  must  transport  his  load  upon  his  back.  Such  is  the  condition 
of  the  people  of  India,  and  such,  nearly,  is  that  of  the  people  of  Ireland. 
Labour  is  consequently  unproductive,  and  its  price  is  low. 

To  render  labour  productive,  men  require  machinery,  which  is  of  three 
kinds,  to  wit :  First,  Machinery  of  production ,  consisting  of  lands  that  are 
cleared,  drained,  and  otherwise  fitted  for  the  work  of  cultivation.  Second, 
Machinery  of  conversion,  as  saw-mills,  which  convert  logs  into  planks  and 
boards ;  grist-mills,  which  convert  wheat  into  flour ;  cotton  and  woollen- 
mills,  which  convert  wool  into  cloth ;  and  furnaces,  which  convert  lime,  fuel, 
and  ore  into  iron.  Third,  Machinery  of  transportation ,  by  aid  of  which  the 


110 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


man  who  raises  food  is  enabled  to  place  it  where  he  can  exchange  it  with  the 
one  who  makes  cloth  or  iron. 

The  two  latter  descriptions  make  no  addition  to  the  quantity  of  food  or 
wool  that  is  to  be  consumed.  The  wheat  or  cotton  that  goes  into  the  mill 
comes  out  flour  or  cloth.  The  barrel  of  flour  that  goes  into  the  ship  comes 
out  a  barrel  of  flour,  neither  more  nor  less,  and  it  will  feed  no  more  people 
when  it  comes  out  than  when  it  went  in. 

The  bushel  of  wheat  that  is  sown  comes  out  of  the  earth  six,  eight,  or  ten 
bushels,  and  the  bushel  of  potatoes  comes  out  twenty  or  thirty  bushels. 
They  have  been  placed  in  the  machine  of  production,  while  the  others  have 
been  placed  in  the  machines  of  conversion  or  transportation. 

The  more  labour  that  can  be  applied  to  the  machine  of  production,  the 
larger  will  be  the  supply  of  food  and  wool,  and  the  larger  will  be  the  quan¬ 
tity  of  both  that  will  be  deemed  the  equivalent  of  a  day* s  labour. 

The  nearer  the  place  of  conversion  can  be  brought  to  the  place  of  pro¬ 
duction,  the  less  will  be  the  necessity  for  transportation,  the  more  steady  will 
be  the  demand  for  labour  throughout  the  year,  the  larger  will  be  the  quantity 
that  may  be  given  to  the  work  of  production,  the  better  will  the  labourer  be 
fed  and  clothed,  and  the  more  rapid  will  be  the  accumulation  of  wealth  in 
the  form  of  machinery  to  be  used  in  the  further  increase  of  production. 

Wealth  tends  to  grow  more  rapidly  than  population,  because  better  soils 
are  brought  into  cultivation ;  and  it  does  grow  more  rapidly  whenever  people 
abandon  swords  and  muskets  and  take  to  spades  and  ploughs.  Every  increase 
in  the  ratio  of  wealth  to  population  is  attended  with  an  increase  in  the  power 
of  the  labourer  as  compared  with  that  of  landed  or  other  capital.  We  all  see 
that  when  ships  are  more  abundant  than  passengers,  the  price  of  passage  is 
low — and  that  when,  on  the  contrary,  passengers  are  more  abundant  than  ships, 
the  price  is  high.  When  ploughs  and  horses  are  more  plenty  than  plough¬ 
men,  the  latter  fix  the  wages,  but  when  ploughmen  are  more  abundant  than 
ploughs,  the  owners  of  the  latter  determine  the  distribution  of  the  product  of 
labour.  When  wealth  increases  rapidly,  new  soils  are  brought  into  cultiva¬ 
tion,  and  more  ploughmen  are  wanted.  The  demand  for  ploughs  produces  a 
demand  for  more  men  to  mine  coal  and  smelt  iron  ore,  and  the  iron-master 
becomes  a  competitor  for  the  employment  of  the  labourer,  who  obtains  a 
larger  proportion  of  the  constantly  increasing  return  to  labour.  He  wants 
clothes  in  greater  abundance,  and  the  manufacturer  becomes  a  competitor 
with  the  iron -master  and  the  farmer  for  his  services.  His  proportion  is  again 
increased,  and  he  wants  sugar,  and  tea,  and  coffee,  and  now  the  ship-master 
competes  with  the  manufacturer,  the  iron-master  and  the  farmer :  and  thus 
with  the  growth  of  population  and  wealth  there  is  produced  a  constantly  in¬ 
creasing  demand  for  labour  •  and  its  increased  productiveness,  and  the  con¬ 
sequently  increased  facility  of  accumulating  wealth  are  followed  necessarily 
and  certainly  by  an  increase  of  the  labourer’s  proportion.  His  wages  rise, 
and  the  proportion  of  the  capitalist  falls,  yet  now  the  latter  accumulates 
fortune  more  rapidly  than  ever,  and  thus  his  interest  and  that  of  the  labourer 
are  in  perfect  harmony  with  each  other.  If  we  desire  evidence  of  this,  it  is 
shown  in  the  constantly  increasing  amount  of  the  rental  of  England,  derived 
from  the  appropriation  of  a  constantly  decreasing  proportion  of  the  product 
of  the  land  :  and  in  the  enormous  amount  of  railroad  tolls  compared  with 
those  of  the  turnpike :  yet  the  railroad  transports  the  farmer’s  wheat  to 
market,  and  brings  back  sugar  and  coffee,  taking  not  one-fourth  as  large  a 
proportion  for  doing  the  business  as  was  claimed  by  the  owner  of  the  wagon 
and  horses,  and  him  of  the  turnpike.  The  labourer’s  product  is  increased, 
and  the  proportion  that  goes  to  the  capitalist  is  decreased.  The  power  of  the 
first  over  the  product  of  his  labour  has  grown,  while  that  of  the  latter  has 
diminished. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


Ill 


Look  where  we  may,  throughout  this  country,  we  shall  find  that  where 
machinery  of  transportation  is  most  needed,  the  quantity  of  labour  that  can  be 
given  to  production  is  least,  and  the  return  to  labour — or  wages  of  the 
labourer  in  food,  clothing,  and  other  of  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life — 
is  least :  and  that  where  transportation  is  least  needed,  the  quantity  of 
labour  that  can  be  given  to  production  is  greatest,  and  wages  are  highest :  or  in 
other  words,  that  the  nearer  the  consumer  and  the  producer  can  be  brought 
together  the  larger  is  the  return  to  labour. 

For  forty  years  past  the  cultivation  of  cotton  in  India  has  been  gradually 
receding  from  the  lower  lands  towards  the  hills,  producing  a  constantly  in¬ 
creasing  necessity  for  the  means  of  transportation,  and  a  constant  diminution 
in  the  quantity  of  labour  that  could  be  applied  to  production.  With  each 
such  step  labour  has  been  becoming  more  and  more  surplus,  and  the  reward 
of  labour  has  been  steadily  diminishing. 

During  a  large  portion  of  this  period,  such  has  been  the  case  with  Southern 
labour.  It  has  been  gradually  receding  from  the  lower  lands  of  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia,  producing  a  constant  increase  in  the  necessity  for  transportation, 
while  the  commodities  to  be  transported  would  command  in  return  a  con¬ 
stantly  decreasing  measure  of  cloth,  iron,  and  other  of  the  necessaries  of  life. 
This  tendency  has  been  in  some  degree  arrested  by  the  large  consumption  at 
home,  and  by  the  power  of  applying  labour  to  the  culture  of  sugar ;  but  were 
we  now  to  change  our  revenue  system,  establishing  perfect  freedom  of  trade, 
the  home  manufacture  of  cotton  and  the  home  production  of  sugar  must 
cease,  and  cotton  wool  would  then  fall  to  three  cents  per  pound,  for  the 
planter  would  then  be  reduced  to  that  as  the  only  thing  he  could  cultivate  for 
sale.  Labour  would  become  more  and  more  surplus,  with  a  constant  diminu¬ 
tion  of  the  power  of  the  labourer  to  obtain  either  cloth  or  iron. 

So  has  it  been,  and  so  must  it  continue  to  be,  with  the  sugar  and  coffee 
planters.  Their  products  yield  them  a  constantly  diminishing  quantity  of 
either  cloth  or  iron,  with  constantly  increasing  difficulty  of  obtaining  clothing 
or  machinery  in  exchange  for  labour. 

In  New  England,  wages — i.  e.  the  power  to  obtain  food,  clothing,  andiron 
in  exchange  for  labour — are  high,  but  they  tend  to  rise  with  every  increase 
in  the  productiveness  of  Southern  and  Western  labour,  and  so  will  they  con¬ 
tinue  to  do  as  Southern  and  Western  men  become  manufacturers,  because 
the  latter  will  then  have  more  to  offer  in  exchange  for  labour.  With  any 
diminution  in  the  productiveness  of  labour  South  or  West,  the  wages  of  New 
England  must  fall,  because  there  will  then  be  less  to  offer  them  in  exchange. 

In  England,  the  power  to  obtain  food,  clothing,  or  iron,  for  labour,  is 
small,  and  it  tends  to  diminish  with  every  increase  in  the  proportion  of  the 
population  dependent  upon  transportation,  and  every  diminution  in  the  pro¬ 
portion  that  applies  itself  to  production,  because  with  each  such  step  there  is 
a  necessity  for  greater  exertion  to  underwork  and  supplant  the  Hindoo, 
whose  annual  wages  even  now  are  but  six  dollars,  out  of  which  he  finds  him¬ 
self  in  food  and  clothing.  With  every  step  downwards,  labour  is  more  and 
more  becoming  surplus,  as  is  seen  from  the  growing  anxiety  to  expel  popula¬ 
tion,  at  almost  any  present  sacrifice.  Why  it  is  so  we  may  now  inquire. 

The  great  object  of  England  is  commerce. 

Commerce  among  men  tends  to  produce  equality  of  condition,  moral  and 
physical.  Whether  it  shall  tend  to  raise  or  to  depress  the  standard  of  con¬ 
dition,  must  depend  upon  the  character  of  those  with  whom  it  is  necessary 
that  it  should  be  maintained.  The  man  who  is  compelled  to  associate  with 
the  idle,  the  dissolute,  and  the  drunken,  is  likely  to  sink  to  the  level  of  his 
companions. 

So  is  it  with  labour.  The  necessity  for  depending  on  commerce  with  men 


112 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


among  whom  the  standard  is  low,  tends  to  sink  the  labourer  to  the  level  of 
the  lowest.  Place  half  a  dozen  men  on  an  island,  two  of  whom  are  indus¬ 
trious  and  raise  food,  leaving  it  to  the  others,  less  disposed  to  work,  to  pro\  ide 
meat,  fish,  clothing,  and  shelter,  and  the  industrious  will  be  compelled  to  ex¬ 
change  with  the  idle.  Clothing  and  shelter  are  as  necessary  as  bread,  and  those 
who  play  will  therefore  profit  by  the  labours  of  those  who  woik.  The  latter, 
finding  such  to  be  the  result,  will  cease  to  work  with  spirit,  and  by  degrees 
all  the  members  of  the  little  community  will  become  equally  idle.  .  Here  lies 
the  error  of  communism  and  socialism.  They  seek  to  compel  union,  and  to 
force  men  to  exchange  with  each  other,  the  necessary  effect  of  which  is  to 
sink  the  whole  body  to  the  level  of  those  who  are  at  the  bottom. 

So,  too,  is  it  with  nations.  The  industrious  community  that  raises  food 
and  is  dependent  on  the  idle  one  that  makes  iron  must  give  much  of  the  one 
for  little  of  the  other.  The  peaceful  community  that  raises  cotton  and  is  de¬ 
pendent  on  the  warlike  one  that  raises  silk,  must  give  much  cotton  for  little 
silk. .  Dependence  on  others  for  articles  of  necessity  thus  makes  a  community 
of  goods,  and  the  sober  and  industrious  must  help  to  support  the  idle  and  the 

dissolute — nations  as  well  as  individuals. 

So  long  as  this  state  of  dependence  exists,  the  condition  of  each  is  deter¬ 
mined  by  that  of  the  other.  If  the  idle  become  more  idle,  and  the  dissolute 
more  dissolute,  those  who  still  continue  to  work  must  steadily  give  more 
labour  for  less  labour,  and  their  condition  must  deteriorate  unless  they  adopt 
such  measures  as  shall  gradually  diminish  and  finally  terminate  their  de¬ 
pendence  on  such  companions. 

The  policy  of  England  has  tended  to  produce  communism  among  nations. 
She  has  rendered  herself  dependent  upon  other  communities  for  supplies  of 
the  articles  of  prime  necessity,  food  and  clothing,  obtaining  her  rice  from  the 
wretched  Hindoo,  her  corn  from  the  Russian  serf,  and  her  wool  from  the 
Australian  convict,  neglecting  her  own  rich  soils  that  wait  but  the  application 

of  labour  to  become  productive.  _  . 

The  necessary  consequence  of  this  is  a  tendency  downwards  in  the  con¬ 
dition  of  her  people,  and  as  it  is  with  those  of  England  that  those  of  this 
country  are  invited  to  compete,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  show  what  is  the  con¬ 
dition  to  which  they  are  now  reduced  by  competition  with  the  low-priced 

labour  of  Russia  and  of  India.  - 

The  Spectator ,  a  free-trade  journal,  informs  us*  that  “  the  condition  ot  the 
labouring  classes  engaged  in  agriculture,  long  an  opprobrium  to  our  advance¬ 
ment  in  civilization,  has  not  improved ;  while  wages  ^exhibit  a  universal  ten¬ 
dency  to  decline  beneath  the  lowest  level  of  recent  times. 

The  Morning  Chronicle  has  recently  given  a  series  of  letters  from  a  cor¬ 
respondent  specially  deputed  to  inquire  into  the  condition  of  the  labouring 
classes  in  the  agricultural  counties,  and  by  him  we  are  informed  that  in 
Buckinghamshire  and  Oxfordshire  the  average  wages  of  the  year  will  not 
exceed  9/  =  $2T6  per  week,  while  in  Berks  and  Wiltshire  they  will  not 
exceed  7/6  =  $1*79,  and  with  this  it  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  “  when  a 
poor  wretch  is  prevented  for  a  day,  or  even  half  a  day,  from  working,  his 
wages  are  stopped  for  the  time.”  The  wife  sometimes  works  in  the  fields,  and 
adds  three  shillings  a  week  to  the  fund  out  of  which  these  unfortunate  people 
are  to  be  subsisted,  yet  this  gain  is  not  without  a  drawback,  as  will  be  seen 
by  those  who  may  read  the  following  account  of  the  condition  of  the  English 
agricultural  labourer,  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  which,  long  as 
it  is,  will  be  found  interesting  : — 


*  November  12,  1849. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


113 


“  When  a  married  woman  goes  to  the  fields  to  work,  she  must  leave  her  children  at 
homey  In  many  cases  they  are  too  young  to  be  left  by  themselves,  when  they  are 
generally  left  in  charge  of  a  young  girl  hired  for  the  purpose.  The  sum  paid  to  this 
vicarious  mother,  who  is  generally  herself  a  mere  child,  is  from  8 d.  to  Is.  per  week,  in 
addition  to  which  she  is  fed  and  lodged  in  the  house.  This  is  nearly  equivalent  to  an 
addition  of  two  more  members  to  the  family.  If,  therefore,  the  mother  works  in  the  fields 
for  weekly  wages  equal  to  the  maintenance  of  three  children  for  the  week,  it  is,  in  the 
first  place,  in  many  cases,  at  the  cost  of  having  two  additional  mouths  to  feed.  But  this 
is  far  from  being  all  the  disadvantages  attending  out-door  labour  by  the  mother.  One  of 
the  worst  features  attending  the  system  is  the  cheerlessness  with  which  it  invests  the 
poor  man’s  house.  On  returning  from  work,  instead  of  finding  his  house  in  order  and  a 
meal  comfortably  prepared  for  him,  his  wife  accompanies  him  home,  or  perhaps  arrives 
after  him,  when  all  has  to  be  done  in  his  presence  which  should  have  been  done  for  his 
reception.  The  result  is,  that  home  is  made  distasteful  to  him,  and  he  hies  to  the  nearest 
ale-house,  where  he  soon  spends  the  balance  of  his  wife’s  earnings  for  the  week,  and 
also  those  of  his  children,  if  any  of  them  have  been  at  work.  A  great  deal  is  lost  also 
through  the  unthrifty  habits  of  his  wife.  Her  expertness  at  out-door  labour  has  been 
acquired  at  the  expense  of  an  adequate  knowledge  of  her  in-door  duties.  She  is  an  in¬ 
different  cook — a  bad  housewife  in  every  respect.  She  is  also  in  numerous  instances 
lamentably  deficient  in  knowledge  of  the  most  ordinary  needle-work.  All  that  she  wants 
in  these  respects  she  might  acquire,  if  she  stayed  more  at  home  and  was  less  in  the  fields. 
In  addition  to  this,  her  children  would  have  the  benefit  of  being  brought  up  under  her 
own  eye,  instead  of  being,  as  they  are,  utterly  neglected  and  left  to  themselves ;  for  the. 
party  left  in  charge  of  them — and  it  is  not  always  that  any  one  is  so — is  generally  herself 
a  child,  having  no  control  whatever  over  them.  It  is  under  these  circumstances  that  the 
seeds  of  future  vice  are  plentifully  sown.  On  the  whole,  as  regards  the  system  of  married 
women  working  in  the  fields,  I  cannot,  when  the  children  are  young,  but  look  on  the 
balance  as  being  on  the  side  of  disadvantage.  In  that  case  I  think  it  would  be  decidedly 
better  for  the  poor  man,  having  reference  only  to  his  physical  comforts,  that  his  wife 
stayed  at  home.  And  this  is  the  position  of  many  a  labouring  man.  In  many  cases, 
when  the  family  is  large,  some  of  the  children  are  at  work,  adding  their  scanty  wages  of 
from  Is.  6 d.  to  2s.  a  week  to  the  common  fund.  But  I  have  known  numerous  cases  of 
families  of  seven  children,  of  which  the  eldest  was  not  eight  years  old.  Besides,  when 
these  are  fit  to  work  and  earn  wages  of  their  own,  his  children  soon  become  independent 
of  him,  and  set  up  for  themselves.  This  is  in  one  way  a  relief  to  him,  unless  his  family, 
while  diminishing  at  one  end,  is  increasing  at  the  other.  There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that 
a  family  is  frequently  aided  by  the  earnings  of  the  children,  but  in  by  far  the  greater 
number  of  cases  the  means  of  support  are  procured  by  the  parents  themselves.  From 
what  has  been  already  said  of  the  disadvantage  to  the  whole  family  at  which  the  wife 
bears  her  share  in  procuring  them,  it  will  be  evident  that  the  husband's  earnings  are, 
after  all,  the  true  test  and  standard  of  his  own  condition  and  that  of  those  dependent  upon 
him* 

Moreover,  in  a  very  large  proportion  of  cases,  the  wife  remains  at  home,  attending  to 
duties  more  appropriate  to  her  sex  and  position,  in  which  case  there  is  no  other  aid  to  be 
had,  unless  it  be  the  trifling  and  fitful  earnings  of  one  or  two  of  the  children.  We  have 
seen  that,  in  the  counties  in  question,  there  are  about  40,000  married  couples,  who,  with 
their  children,  numbering  about  120,000,  depend  exclusively  upon  agricultural  labour  for 
support.  Of  the  40,000  mothers,  fully  one-half  stay  at  home,  some  being  compelled  to  do 
so  on  account  of  the  extreme  youth  of  their  children;  and  others,  save  when  their  fami¬ 
lies  are  somewhat  advanced,  preferring  from  calculation  to  do  so,  as  being  the  best  mode 
of  turning  their  scanty  means  to  good  account.  This  may  be  taken  as  the  case  with  half 
the  married  couples,  who,  with  their  families,  will  number  about  100,000  individuals. 
So  far,  therefore,  as  these  are  concerned,  the  children,  in  about  the  same  proportion  of 
families,  being  too  young  to  add  any  thing  to  the  common  stock,  there  is  nothing  else  to 
adopt  as  the  test  of  their  condition  and  the  standard  of  their  comforts  but  the  earnings  of 
the  husband.  Let  us  inquire,  therefore,  into  the  condition  of  a  family  thus  solely  de¬ 
pendent  upon  such  wages  as  the  husband  has,  on  the  average,  received  during  the  past 
portion  of  the  current  year.  I  can  best  illustrate  that  condition  by  one  of  the  numerous 
cases  which  came  under  my  consideration  in  Wiltshire.  The  labourer  in  that  case  had 
had  8s.  a  week,  but  he  was  then#only  in  receipt  of  7s.  He  had  seven  children,  the  eldest 
of  whom,  a  girl,  was  in  her  eighth  year.  Two  of  his  children  had  been  at  a  dunce’s 
school;”  but  they  were  not  then  attending  it,  simply  because  he  could  not  afford  the  4c L 
a  week  which  had  to  be  paid  for  their  education.  To  ascertain  how  far  he  was  really 


114 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


incapable  in  this  respect,  I  requested  him  to  detail  to  me  the  economy  of  his  household  for 
a  week,  taking  his  earnings  at  8s.  The  following  is  the  substance  of  the  conversation, 
discarding,  for  the  reader's  sake,  the  portions  in  which  the  names  are  given. 

When  are  your  wages  paid  ? — On  Saturday  night,  but  often  only  once  a  fortnight. 

What  do  you  do  with  the  money  on  receiving  it  ? — I  first  lay  by  my  rent,  which  is  a 
shilling  a  week.  I  then  go  to  the  grocer’s  and  lay  in  something  for  Sunday  and  the  rest 
of  the  week.  I  buy  a  little  tea,  of  which  I  get  two  ounces  for  6 d.  Sugar  is  cheap,  but  I 
cannot  afford  it.  We  sometimes  sweeten  the  tea  with  a  little  treacle,  but  generally  drink 

it  unsweetened. 

Do  you  purchase  any  butcher  meat? — Generally  for  a  Sunday  we  buy  a  bit  of  bacon. 

How  much  ? — It  is  seldom  that  I  can  afford  more  than  half  a  pound. 

Haifa  pound  among  nine  of  you  ? — Yes ;  it  is  but  a  mere  taste,  but  we  have  not  even 

that  the  rest  of  the  week.  It  costs  me  about  5 d. 

Do  you  buy  your  bread,  or  make  it  at  home  ? — We  buy  it.  We  have  not  fire  enough  to 

make  it  at  home,  or  it  would  be  a  great  saving  to  us. 

Do  you  buy  a  quantity  at  once,  or  a  loaf  when  you  need  it  ? — We  buy  it  as  we  need  it. 

Have  you  a  garden  attached  to  your  cottage? — I  have  about  fifteen  poles,  for  which  I 
pay  1  id.  a  pole.  It  is  less  than  the  eighth  of  an  acre. 

What  do  you  raise  from  it  ? — We  raise  some  potatoes  and  cabbages. 

Do  you  raise  a  sufficient  quantity  of  potatoes  to  serve  you  for  the  year?  No,  not  even 
if  they  were  all  sound. 

In  addition  to  the  potatoes  and  the  cabbages  which  you  raise,  how  much  bread  do  you 
require  for  your  own  support,  and  that  of  your  wife  and  seven  children  for  the  week  ? 
We  require  seven  gallons  of  bread  at  least. 

What  is  a  gallon  of  bread  ? — It  is  a  loaf  which  used  to  weigh  S  lbs.  1 1  oz.,  but  which  now 
seldom  weighs  above  8  lbs.  Those  who  supply  bread  to  the  union  seldom  make  it  over  8  lbs. 

What  is  the  price  of  the  gallon  loaf?— Tenpence.  It  is  cheaper  than  it  was,  but  then 
there  is  not  always  so  much  of  it.  It  is  often  of  short  weight. 

Seven  gallons  of  bread  at  10  d,  a  gallon  would  make  5s.  1 0d.,  would  it  not?— I  believe 
it  would  make  about  that — you  ought  to  know. 

Do  you  always  get  seven  gallons  a  week? — No,  seldom  more  than  six. 

Then  you  spend  5s.  in  bread,  and  make  up  for  the  want  of  more  by  potatoes  and  cab¬ 
bages? — Yes. 

You  have  still  some  money  left ;  what  do  you  do  with  it  ?— It  costs  us  something  for  wash¬ 
ing.  For  soap  and  soda,  and  for  needles  and  thread  for  mending,  we  pay  about  5 d.  a  week. 

p)0  you  buy  fuel? _ We  get  a  cwt.  of  coal  sometimes,  which  would  cost  us  about  Is.  or 

Is.  lid.  if  we  took  in  any  quantity  and  paid  ready  money.  When  we  do  neither  it  costs 
us  about  Is.  4 d.  a  cwt.  If  there  is  one  poor  man  who  can  afford  to  buy  it  in  any  quan¬ 
tity  for  ready  money,  there  are  forty  who  cannot. 

How  long  would  a  cwt.  of  coals  serve  you? — We  make  it  last  one  way  oi  another  for 

two  weeks. 

Your  fuel,  therefore,  will  cost  you  about  Sd.a  week? — It  will. 

Is  there  any  thing  else  you  have?— We  buy  a  little  salt  butter  sometimes,  which  we  can 
get  from  G^d.  to  lOd.  a  pound.  We  are  obliged,  of  course,  to  take  the  cheapest;  “and 
really,  sir,  it  is  sometimes  not  hardly  fit  to  grease  a  wagon  with.” 

But  your  money  is  already  all  gone  :  how  do  you  pay  for  your  butter  ?  It  is  not  always 
that  we  have  it,  and  we  can  only  have  it  by  stinting  ourselves  in  other  things. 

You  have  said  nothing  about  your  clothing :  how  do  you  procure  that  ? — But  for  the 
high  wages  we  get  during  the  harvest  time,  we  could  not  get  it  at  all. 

How  long  does  the  time  last  when  you  get  high  wages?  About  ten  weeks,  and  but 
for  what  we  then  get  I  do  not  know  how  we  could  get  on  at  all. 

From  this  recapitulation  it  must  certainly  appear  a  mystery  to  the  reader  how  they  get 
on  as  it  is.  The  weekly  expenditure,  in  our  view,  is  as  follows,  the  family  being  nine, 
and  the  weekly  receipts  8s. : — 

s.  d. 

Rent 

Tea 

Bacon  . 

Bread 

Soda,  soap,  &c. 

Fuel 


0  6 
0  5 
5  0 
0  5 
0  8 


Total 


8  0 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


115 


The  provision  for  clothing  is  in  the  extra  wages  paid  at  harvest  time,  while  the  family 
cannot  be  treated  to  the  luxury  of  bad  butter  without  sacrificing  the  tea,  two  ounces  of 
which  must  serve  for  a  week,  the  half  pound  of  bacon,  which  affords  but  a  “  mere  taste” 
on  Sunday  to  each  ;  some  of  the  bread  which  is  already  but  too  scantily  supplied ;  or  a 
portion  of  their  fuel,  the  absence  of  which  renders  their  home  still  more  cheerless  and 
desolate.  Sugar,  too,  is  out  of  the  question,  without  trenching  upon  items  more  absolutely 
necessary.  Nor  is  there  any  reserved  fund  for  medicines,  too  often  required  by  a  family 
of  nine  thus  miserably  circumstanced.  What,  in  short,  have  we  here?  We  have  nine 
people  subsisting  for  seven  days  upon  60  lbs.  of  bread — scarcely  a  pound  a  day  fof  each, 
half  a  pound  of  bacon,  and  two  ounces  of  tea,  the  rest  being  made  up  by  a  provision,  too 
scanty  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  of  potatoes  and  cabbages  raised  in  the  garden.  Could 
they  descend  much  lower  in  the  scale  of  wretchedness,  especially  when  we  couple  with 
their  stinted  supply  of  the  less  nutritious  kinds  of  food  the  miserable  hovels  in  which  it 
is  taken  by  them,  either  shivering  in  the  winter’s  frosts,  or  inhaling  the  pestilential  odours 
engendered  around  them  by  the  summer  heats? 

I  could  no  longer  express  any  surprise  at  Ad.  a  week  being  grudged  for  the  education 
of  two  children. 

This  being  the  mode  in  which  his  weekly  wages  were  expended,  I  asked  the  same 
individual  to  give  me  an  account  of  his  daily  life,  including  his  labour  and  fare.  In  reply 
to  my  questions  on  this  point  he  answered,  in  substance,  as  follows : — 

At  what  hour  do  you  go  to  work? — At  six  in  the  morning,  generally,  in  summer;  but  I 
have  gone  much  earlier.  In  winter  time  work  begins  at  a  later  hour. 

Do  you  breakfast  at  home  ? — When  I  do  not  go  out  very  early  I  generally  do. 

Of  what  does  your  breakfast  consist? — Principally  of  bread,  and  sometimes  a  little  tea. 
Sometimes,  too,  we  have  a  few  potatoes  boiled. 

When  do  you  dine  ? — About  twelve. 

Of  what  does  your  dinner  consist? — On  the  Monday  my  wife  gets  a  little  flour  and 
makes  a  pudding,  which,  with  a  few  potatoes,  forms  my  dinner.  Sometimes  we  have  a 
pudding  on  other  days,  but  generally  our  dinner  is  bread  and  potatoes,  with  now  and 
then  a  little  cabbage.  When  the  family  is  not  large,  there  may  be  a  bit  of  bacon  left  that 
has  not  been  used  on  Sunday,  but  that  is  never  the  case  with  us. 

You  return  to  work  again? — I  do,  and  when  I  come  home  at  night  may  have  a  little 
tea  again,  with  the  bread  which  forms  my  supper.  The  tea  is  never  strong  with  us,  but 
at  night  it  is  very  weak. 

Do  your  children  get  tea  ? — We  have  not  enough  for  that. 

What  is  their  drink  ? — Water ;  sometimes  we  get  them  a  little  milk. 

What  is  your  own  drink? — Water. 

Do  you  never  drink  beer? — Never,  but  when  it  is  given  me;  I  can’t  afford  to  buy  it. 

When  your  dinner  consists  of  bread,  potatoes,  and  water,  have  you  nothing  to  season  it 
or  make  it  palatable  ? — Nothing  but  a  little  salt  butter  ;  and  we  can  only  afford  that  when 
the  bread  or  potatoes  happen  not  to  be  very  good,  or  when  we  are  ailing,  and  our 
stomachs  are  a  little  dainty. 

When  your  bread  or  potatoes  are  bad,  or  your  stomachs  are  dainty,  you  take  as  a 
relish  the  butter  which  you  said  was  scarcely  fit  to  grease  a  wagon  with? — We  have 
nothing  better  to  take. 

Suppose  you  had  nothing  but  bread  to  eat,  how  much  would  you  require  to  sustain  you 
at  work  in  the  course  of  a  day? — Two  pounds  at  least. 

And  how  much  would  one  of  your  children  require  ? — About  the  same.  A  child, 
although  not  at  work,  will  eat  as  much  as  a  man ;  children  are  always  growing,  and 
always  ready  to  eat,  and  one  does  not  like  to  refuse  food  to  them  when  they  want  it.  I 
would  sooner  go  without  myself  than  stint  my  children,  if  I  could  help  it. 

Then,  at  the  rate  of  two  pounds  a  day  for  each,  you  would  require  for  all  about  126  lbs. 
for  the  week  ? — I  suppose  about  that. 

And,  as  you  only  get  about  sixty  pounds  of  bread  a  week,  you  have  to  rely  on  your 
potatoes  and  cabbages,  your  half  pound  of  bacon,  and  two  ounces  of  tea,  to  make  up  for 
the  sixty-six  pounds  which  you  cannot  get? — We  have  nothing  else  to  rely  on. 

Have  you  enough  of  these  to  afford  you  as  much  nourishment  as  there  would  be  in 
sixty-six  pounds  of  bread  ? — Not  nearly  enough. 

Is  what  you  have  stated  your  manner  of  living  from  week  to  week? — It  is  when  I 
have  work. 

And  when  you  have  not  work,  how  is  it  with  you  ? — In  the  winter  months  we  have 
sometimes  scarcely  a  bit  to  put  in  our  mouths. 


116 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


Such  is  the  substance  of  the  statement,  as  regards  his  own  and  his  family’s  circum¬ 
stances,  made  to  me  by  a  labouring  man  in  the  receipt  of  the  average  rate  of  wages  for 
the  last  nine  months  in  Wiltshire.  Comment  is  scarcely  needed,  the  facts  speaking  but 
too  plainly  for  themselves.  Had  the  family  been  smaller,  or  the  wages  a  little  higher, 
instead  of  a  “  taste,”  they  might  have  had  a  meal  of  bacon  once  a  week.  But  even  then 
it  would  be  but  once  a  week,  potatoes  and  bread  still  constituting  the  staple  of  their  diet, 
and  even  these  not  being  had  by  them  in  sufficient  quantity.  Besides,  even  if  they  had 
it  more  frequently,  bacon  is  not  the  most  nourishing  food  in  the  shape  of  butcher  meat ; 
it  is  fat,  and  goes  to  fat.  The  little  lean  that  is  in  it  is  almost  destroyed  by  the  process  of 
curing.  But  it  is  greasy,  and  soon  satisfies.  “It  fills  us  sooner  than  any  other  kind  of 
meat,”  was  the  reply  given  to  me  when  I  asked  why  they  preferred  it  to  beef?  But  the 
fault  is  that  it  does  not  fill  them  ;  it  satiates,  without  filling  them.  Bulk  is  required  as 
well  as  nutriment  in  food.  The  stomach  has  a  mechanical  as  well  as  a  chemical  action 
to  perform.  A  man  could  not  live  on  cheese,  nor  could  he  exist  on  pills  having  in  them 
the  concentrated  essence  of  beef.  They  buy  bacon  because  it  goes  a  longer  way  than 
other  meat — in  truth,  they  buy  it  because  it  soon  cloys  them.  Nor  is  it  always  that  they 
have  even  a  “  taste”  of  it  once  a  week.  I  have  seen  several  families  who  had  not  tasted 
butcher  meat  of  any  kind  for  weeks  at  a  time.  When  French  and  English  workmen 
came  together  during  the  construction  of  some  of  the  French  railways,  it  was  found  that 
the  Englishman  could  perform  far  more  work  than  his  French  competitor.  This  was 
universally  attributed  to  the  superiority  of  his  diet,  it  being  supposed  but  reasonable  on 
all  hands  to  expect  more  work  from  the  man  who  fed  on  beef  and  porter  than  from  him 
whose  fare  was  bread  and  grapes.  But  the  fare  of  the  man  who  is  expected  by  his 
labour  to  develope,  year  after  year,  the  agricultural  wealth  of  England,  is,  in  a  large  pro¬ 
portion  of  cases,  little  better  than  bread  and  water — the  fare  of  the  condemned  cell ! 
Contrast  the  condition  of  the  English  farm  labourer  with  that  of  the  farm  labourer  in 
Canada.  In  England  he  eats  butclier-meat  once  a  week,  and  not  always  that;  in  Canada 
he  has  as  much  of  it  as  he  wants  once,  at  least,  and  frequently  twice  a  day.  Contrast  his 
condition  even  writh  that  of  the  slave  in  the  Southern  States  of  America.  In  Virginia,  the 
great  slave  State,  it  is  seldom  that  a  day  passes  without  the  slave  eating  butcher-meat  of 
some  kind  or  other.  In  addition  to  this,  when  he  is  old  and  infirm,  he  has  a  claim  on  his 
master  for  support.  But  the  English  labourer,  if  he  has  a  family  to  sustain,  has  not,  even 
during  the  days  of  his  strength,  when  he  can  do,  and  does  work,  the  same  nutritious  diet 
as  the  slave;  while,  when  he  is  disabled,  or  loses  his  work,  he  must  starve,  or,  as  the 
alternative,  become  a  vagrant,  or  the  recipient  of  a  formal  and  organized  charity.  In  the 
words  of  one  of  themselves,  “  it  is  not  a  living,  sir — it  is  a  mere  being  we  get;”  by  which 
he  intended  to  convey  that  their  reward  for  their  toil  was  their  being  barely  enabled  to 
exist. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  case  put  is  an  e'xtreme  one.  It  is  the  case,  however,  of  nearly 
one-half  of  those  who  are  dependent  upon  labour  in  the  fields.  But  it  may  be  said  that  I 
have  omitted  to  take  into  account  some  little  privileges  which  the  labourer  has,  and 
which,  when  he  avails  himself  of  them,  tend  to  enhance  his  comforts.  He  may  keep  a 
pig,  for  instance,  and  his  employer  will  sometimes  find  him  straw  for  it,  which,  in  pro¬ 
cess  of  time,  will  serve  as  manure  for  his  little  garden.  This  looks  very  well  on  paper, 
but  that  is  chiefly  all.  In  the  four  counties  under  consideration  the  number  of  labourers 
keeping  pigs  is  about  one  in  twelve.  It  is  also  a  striking  illustration  of  the  condition  of 
the  labourers,  that  even  such  of  them  as  do  feed  a  pig  seldom  participate  in  the  eating  of 
it.  Then  we  hear  a  great  deal  about  the  coal  and  clothing  clubs,  to  which  I  shall  here¬ 
after  more  particularly  advert,  and  the  chief  merit  of  which  is  that  they  tend  to  render 
life  not  pleasant,  but  barely  toierable  to  the  poor.” 

The  sleeping  accommodations  are  thus  described  : — 

“These  are  above,  and  are  gained  by  means  of  a  few  greasy  and  rickety  steps,  which 
lead  through  a  species  of  hatchway  in  the  ceiling.  Yes,  there  is  but  one  room,  and  yet 
we  counted  nine  in  the  family  !  And  such  a  room  !  The  small  window  in  the  roof 
admits  just  light  enough  to  enable  you  to  discern  its  character  and  dimensions.  The 
rafters,  which  are  all  exposed,  spring  from  the  very  floor,  so  that  it  is  only  in  the  very 
centre  of  the  apartment  that  you  have  any  chance  of  standing  erect.  The  thatch  oozes 
through  the  wood-work  which  supports  it,  the  whole  being  begrimed  with  smoke  and 
dust,  and  replete  with  vermin.  There  are  no  cobwebs,  for  the  spider  only  spreads  his 
net  where  flies  are  likely  to  be  caught.  You  look  in  vain  for  a  bedstead ;  there  is  none 
in  the  room.  But  there  are  their  beds,  lying  side  by  side  on  the  floor,  almost  in  contact 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


117 


with  each  other,  and  occupying  nearly  the  whole  length  of  the  apartment.  The  beds  are 
large  sacks,  filled  with  the  chaff  of  oats,  which  the  labourer  sometimes  gets  and  at  others 
purchases  from  his  employer.  The  chaff  of  wheat  and  barley  is  used  on  the  farm  for 
other  purposes.  The  bed  next  the  hatchway  is  that  of  the  father  and  mother,  with  whom 
sleeps  the  infant,  born  but  a  few  months  ago  in  this  very  room.  In  the  other  beds  sleep 
the  children,  the  boys  and  girls  together.  The  eldest  girl  is  in  her  twelfth  year,  the  eldest 
boy  having  nearly  completed  his  eleventh ;  and  they  are  likely  to  remain  for  years  yet  in 
the  circumstances  in  which  we  now  find  them.  With  the  exception  of  the  youngest 
children,  the  family  retire  to  rest  about  the  same  hour,  generally  undressing  below,  and 
then  ascending  and  crawling  over  each  other  to  their  respective  resting-places  for  the 
night.  There  are  two  blankets  on  the  bed  occupied  by  the  parents,  the  others  being 
covered  with  a  very  heterogeneous  assemblage  of  materials.  It  not  unfrequently  happens 
that  the  clothes  worn  by  the  parents  in  the  day  time  form  the  chief  part  of  the  covering 
of  the  children  by  night.  Such  is  the  dormitory  in  which,  lying  side  by  side,  the  nine 
whom  we  have  just  left  below  at  their  wretched  meal  will  pass  the  night.  The  sole 
ventilation  is  through  the  small  aperture  occupied  by  what  is  termed,  by  courtesy,  a  win¬ 
dow.  In  other  words,  there  is  scarcely  any  ventilation  at  all.  What  a  den  in  the  hour 
of  sickness  or  death  !  What  a  den,  indeed,  at  any  time !  And  yet  when  the  sable  god¬ 
dess  stretches  forth  her  leaden  sceptre  over  the  soft  downy  couch  in  Mayfair,  such  are 
the  circumstances  in  which,  in  our  rural  parishes,  she  leaves  a  portion  of  her  slumbering 
domain. 

Let  it  not  be  said  that  this  picture  is  overdrawn,  or  that  it  is  a  concentration,  for  effect, 
into  one  point,  of  effects  spread  in  reality  over  a  large  surface.  As  a  type  of  the  extreme 
of  domiciliary  wretchedness  in  the  rural  districts,  it  is  underdrawn.  The  cottage  in 
question  has  two  rooms.  Some  have  only  one,  with  as  great  a  number  of  inmates  to 
occupy  it.  Some  of  them,  again,  have  three  or  four  rooms,  with  a  family  occupying  each 
room;  the  families  so  circumstanced  amounting  each,  in  some  cases,  to  nine  or  ten  indi¬ 
viduals.  In  some  cottages,  too,  a  lodger  is  accommodated,  who  occupies  the  same  apart¬ 
ment  as  the  family.  Such,  fortunately,  is  not  the  condition  of  all  the  labourers  in  the 
agricultural  districts ;  but  it  is  the  condition  of  a  very  great  number  of  Englishmen — not 
in  the  backwoods  of  a  remote  settlement,  but  in  the  heart  of  Anglo-Saxon  civilization,  in 
the  year  of  grace  1849.” 

Bad,  however,  as  is  all  this,  it  is  likely  to  be  worse.  Everywhere,  notices 
are  being  given  of  a  reduction  of  wages,  and  diminution  in  the  number  of 
persons  to  be  employed.  There  is  scarcely,  says  the  writer,  a  district  in  any 
of  these  counties  u  where  the  work  of  reducing  wages  has  not  already  com¬ 
menced. ^  In  one  of  them,  as  early  as  last  June,  there  was  a  reduction  from 
8s.  to  7s.,  and  u  apprehensions  are  everywhere  entertained  that  they  will  be 
reduced  to  6s.  =$1-44.”  u  Is  it  any  wonder,”  he  adds,  u  that,  with  such  a 
prospect  before  them,  the  agricultural  labourers  should  brood  over  their  cir¬ 
cumstances  with  the  ominous  sullenness  of  despair  ?  What  is  that  prospect  ? 
The  winter  is  approaching — the  season  when  most  is  required  by  us  all  to 
administer  to  our  comforts.  They  are  entering  upon  that  season  with  here 
8s.,  there  6s.,  and  there  again  but  5s.  a  week  for  the  support  of  their  families. 
How  far  will  these  pitiful  portions  go  in  households  of  five,  six,  seven,  eight, 
nine,  or  ten  individuals?  We  cannot,  in  estimating  a  labourer’s  comforts  at 
any  given  time,  apply  to  them  the  test  of  his  average  wages.  It  is  his  wages 
for  the  time  being  that  decide  the  measure  of  his  condition.  Had  he  at  any 
time  more  than  was  necessary  to  carry  him  and  his  family  up  to  the  line  of 
comfort,  he  might  lay  by  the  surplus  for  adverse  times.  But  he  never  has 
what  secures  him  perfect  comfort,  and  is  always  more  than  tempted  to  spend 
all  he  gets.  He  therefore  commences  this  winter,  as  he  does  every  winter, 
without  any  reserve-fund  to  fall  back  upon  ;  and  the  fact  is  appalling  that, 
in  this  month  of  October,  thousands  of  families  in  the  very  heart  of  England 
have  no  better  prospect  before  them  than  that  of  living  on  8s.,  6s.,  and  even 
5s.  a  week,  in  their  cold,  damp,  cheerless,  and  unhealthy  homes.” 

The  Canadian  farmer  is  invited  to  contend  in  the  market  of  England  with 
the  serf  of  Bussia  for  the  privilege  of  supplying  with  food  men  to  whom  a 


118 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


morsel  of  bacon  on  a  Sunday  is  a  luxury,  when  by  the  simple  process  of 
annexation  and  protection  he  could  bring  to  his  side  the  same  men  and  con¬ 
vert  them  into  large  and  valuable  customers.  The  planter  is  invited  to  con¬ 
tend  in  the  market  of  England  for  the  privilege  of  clothing  men  who  want 
means  to  buy  bread,  when  by  an  exercise  of  his  will  he  could  bring  to  his 
side,  annually,  millions  of  the  same  men,  each  of  whom  would  then  require 
twenty  pounds  a  year,  two  millions  consuming  half  as  much  as  was  consumed 
in  1847  by  almost  thirty  millions  of  the  people  of  England  and  Wales.  * 

The  system  of  England  demands  that  with  such  people  as  these  we  shall 
establish  a  community  of  goods.  Were  it  allowed  free  play — were  the  people 
of  the  world  to  establish  what  is  called  free  trade,  and  thus  unite  their  efforts 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  monopoly  system ,  wages  universally  would  fall  to 
the  level  of  those  of  the  poorest  countries  of  the  world,  for  with  every  step 
those  of  England  would,  of  necessity,  fall,  because  they  must  be  kept  at  that 
point  which  would  enable  her  people  to  underwork  the  world,  and  the  tendency 
everywhere  would  be,  as  it  has  been  in  Ireland  and  India,  downward. 
The  adoption  of  perfect  free  trade  by  this  country  would,  for  a  short  time, 
produce  some  activity  there,  but  a  very  short  period  would  prove  that  we 
bought  far  less  under  free  trade  than  we  had  done  with  protection,  and  in  the 
mean  time  the  disproportion  of  the  English  population  would  have  largely 
increased,  and  the  difficulty  would  be  then  far  greater  than  it  is  now,  great 
even  as  it  is.  We  now  pay  for  far  less  merchandise  than  we  did  three  years 
since,  and  were  it  not  that  we  are  still  able  to  buy  on  credit,  we  should  make 
smaller  demands  on  England  than  we  have  done  at  any  period  since  1842. 
The  greater  the  amount  of  capital  thus  lent  to  us,  the  lower  must  fall  the 
condition  of  the  English  labourer.  Every  step  now  being  made  by  England 
is  a  step  downwards,  and  if  we  would  not  have  our  labourers  reduced  to  a 
level  with  hers  we  must,  by  protection,  endeavour  to  raise  hers  to  a  level 
with  ours,  as  it  will  do  by  relieving  us  from  the  necessity  for  dependence  upon 
commerce  with  a  people  whose  labour  is  lower  in  the  scale  than  our  own.  It 
tends  to  raise  the  value  of  man  abroad  and  at  home,  and  to  enable  all  to  ob¬ 
tain  more  food,  fuel,  and  clothing  with  less  labour.  Under  it  immigration 
has  always  increased,  and  it  has  declined  with  its  diminution.  That  it  must 
tend  to  raise  wages  abroad  is  obvious  from  the  fact  that  so  many  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  the  population  of  Europe,  held  to  be  surplus,  have  sought  our 
shores,  thus  diminishing  the  quantity  of  labour  seeking  there  to  be  employed. 

With  the  approach  to  what  is  called  freedom  of  trade,  that  system  which 
tends  to  the  maintenance  of  the  monopoly  of  machinery  in  England,  the 
value  of  labour  here  is  falling  towards  the  level  of  that  of  England.  The 
present  diminished  production  of  coal  and  iron  is  maintained  only  by  aid  of 
a  great  diminution  of  wages.  Labour  is  becoming  surplus,  and  immigration  is 
already  falling  off.  This  year  will  show  a  large  diminution  therein,  and 
every  step  in  that  direction  must  be  attended  with  a  rise  of  freights  tending 
to  diminish  the  power  to  export  either  food  or  cotton.  With  the  diminution 
of  wages  at  the  North,  there  is  already  a  diminished  power  to  consume  either 
food  or  clothing,  with  increase  in  the  surplus  that  is  to  be  sent.  Thus  the  same 
measures  that  increase  the  necessity  for  depending  on  machinery  of  trans¬ 
portation  diminish  the  power  to  obtain  it,  to  the  deterioration  of  the  condition 
of  the  whole  body  of  the  people,  labourers  and  capitalists,  fartners  and 
planters,  manufacturers  and  ship-owners ;  and  the  same  which  tend  to  di¬ 
minish  our  necessities  for  depending  thereon,  tend  to  increase  our  power  to 
obtain  it,  to  diminish  the  burden  now  pressing  upon  the  land-owners  and 
labourers  of  Europe,  and  to  bring  about  that  state  of  things  which  shall  give 
to  us  and  them  perfect  freedom  of  trade.  The  harmony  of  all  interests, 
whether  individual  or  national,  becomes  more  and  more  obvious  the  more  the 
subject  is  examined. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


119 


It  may  not  be  uninstructive  to  review  the  last  few  years,  with  special 
reference  to  the  discords  that  have  occasionally  been  seen  to  exist  between 
the  employers  and  the  employed,  accompanied  by  strikes,  combinations,  &c., 
with  a  view  to  show  their  cause. 

It  is  within  the  recollection  of  most  of  my  readers  that  the  years  from  1836 
to  1839  were  distinguished  for  disturbances  of  this  kind.  The  cause  is  ob¬ 
vious.  Production  was  diminishing,  and  the  labourer  found  himself  unable 
to  obtain  the  quantity  of  food,  fuel,  and  clothing  to  which  he  had  been  accus¬ 
tomed.  He  desired  a  rise  of  money-wages  to  meet  the  rise  in  the  price  of 
food,  but  the  employer  could  not  give  it,  and  hence  arose  combinations  for 
the  purpose  of  compelling  him  to  do  so. 

From  1844  to  1848,  harmony  was  restored,  because  production  increased, 
and  the  labourer  found  that  each  year  enabled  him  to  obtain  more  food  and 
clothing,  and  better  shelter,  with  the  same  labour. 

The  last  year  has  been  marked  by  a  succession  of  combinations.  In  the  coal 
region  of  Pennsylvania,  at  Pittsburgh,  Lowell,  and  various  other  places,  there 
have  been  strikes  and  turn-outs,  some  of  them  long-continued ;  and  every¬ 
where  there  have  been  clamours  for  the  passage  of  laws  restricting  the  hours 
of  labour ;  but  those  who  thus  clamoured  desired  that  wages  should  remain 
as  they  were.  These  things  all  result  from  the  one  great  fact  that  the  pro¬ 
ductiveness  of  labour  is  diminishing,  and  that  wages  are  tending  towards  the 
European  level.  . 

To  that  cause  was  due  the  jealousy  of  foreigners  which  gave  rise  to  the 
“native”  party.  In  1842,  employment  was  almost  unattainable,  and  the 
native  workmen  were  indisposed  to  divide  with  strangers  the  little  that  was 
to  be  had.  With  the  increased  productiveness  of  labour  wages  rose,  and  the 
“native”  party  almost  died  out,  while  the  import  of  foreigners  was  quad¬ 
rupled.  If  the  system  of  1846  be  continued,  the  same  jealousy  will  re-appear, 
and  foreigners  will  be  proscribed,  while  immigration  will  be  diminished. 

It  is  to  the  interest  of  the  native  workmen  that  the  wages  of  Europe  should 
be  brought  up  to  a  level  with  our  own,  and  the  only  way  in  which  that  can 
be  accomplished  is  for  us  to  pursue  a  course  that  shall  tend  to  render  it  the 
interest  of  every  man  in  Europe  that  can  find  means  to  pay  his  passage  to 
endeavour  to  reach  our  shores.  Every  one  that  comes  will  be  a  producer  of 
something,  and  every  one  therefore  a  customer  to  others  for  their  products. 
Look  where  we  may,  there  is  the  most  perfect  harmony  of  interest. 

CHAPTER  SIXTEENTH. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  THE  SLAVE  AND  HIS  MASTER. 

Protection  tends  to  increase  the  productiveness  of  labour.  Many  of  the 
labourers  of  the  Union  are  held  as  slaves,  and  protection  must  tend  to  render 
their  labour  more  valuable  to  their  owners,  who  may,  therefore,  be  rendered 
less  disposed  to  part  with  them.  If  such  were  likely  to  be  the  fact,  protec¬ 
tion  would  tend  to  perpetuate  slavery,  and  all  who  were  opposed  to  its  continu¬ 
ance  should  advocate  free  trade. 

By  all  English  writers,  and  by  many  among  ourselves,  it  is  held  that  the 
way  to  terminate  the  existence  of  slavery  is  to  destroy  the  value  of  slave- 
labour.  With  that  view  the  British  government  is  urged  to  prohibit  slave- 
grown  sugar,  and  to  encourage  the  extension  of  the  cotton  culture  in  India — 
the  wretched  Hindoo,  who  labours  a  whole  month  for  two  rupees,  (one  dol¬ 
lar,)  out  of  which  he  feeds  and  clothes  himself,  being  held  to  be  a  freer  man 
than  the  well-fed,  well-clothed,  and  well-lodged  labourer  of  Virginia  or  Ken¬ 
tucky. 

Throughout  the  world,  men  have  become  free  as  wealth  and  population 


120 


THE  nARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


have  grown,  and  as  land  lias  increased  in  value.  In  the  early  days  of  Rome, 
when  Latium  was  filled  with  prosperous  cities,  land  was  valuable,  and  men 
were  free.  With  the  gradual  depopulation  of  Italy,  land  lost  its  value,  and 
large  masses  accumulated  in  the  hands  of  great  proprietors  surrounded  by 
slaves.  So  was  it  in  Attica.  In  the  days  of  Solon,  land  was  valuable  and 
men  were  free.  In  those  of  Herodes  Atticus,  land  was  valueless  and  men 
were  slaves.  The  richest  lands  of  India  have  been  abandoned  and  are  now 
jungle,  and  the  descendants  of  the  little  village  proprietors  of  the  last  cen- 
tury  now  sell  themselves  to  slavery  in  Jamaica  and  Demerara.  In  Russia, 
land  has  no  value.  The  value  of  a  property  is  estimated  by  the  number  of 
its  serfs.  In  Belgium,  land  has  great  value,  and  the  people  are  the  freest  in 
Europe.  With  the  gradual  increase  in  the  value  of  land  in  England,  men 
became  more  free,  whereas  with  every  step  tending  to  increase  dependence 
on  Poland  and  Russia  for  food,  land  is  becoming  less  valuable,  labourers  are 
becoming  more  and  more  the  inhabitants  of  parish  work-houses  and  the 
slaves  of  parish  beadles,  and  landowners  are  becoming  more  and  more  anxious 
to  expel  the  population  that  would  otherwise  give  value  to  the  land.  The 
land  of  Ireland  has  almost  lost  its  value,  and  the  labourer  of  Ireland  has 
become  a  slave  to  the  caprices  of  masters  who  regard  him  as  an  encumbrance 
to  be  gotten  rid  of  by  any  process,  however  cruel. 

Increase  in  the  value  of  land  tends  towards  freedom ;  decrease  tends  to¬ 
wards  slavery.  If  protection  tends  to  add  value  to  land,  it  tends  to  the  pro¬ 
motion  of  freedom ;  if  it  tends  to  diminish  its  value,  it  tends  to  the  mainte¬ 
nance  of  slavery. 

The  least  valuable  land  is  that  in  which  men  are  most  rare  ;  the  most  valua¬ 
ble  is  that  in  which  they  most  abound.  The  cause  of  the  difference  between 
the  two  is  to  be  found  in  the  difference  in  the  labour  required  for  the  per¬ 
formance  of  exchanges.  The  hills  of  Limburg,  the  poorest  part  of  Belgium, 
rent  for  from  six  to  eight  dollars;  and  for  flax  land  in  Flanders,  ten  to 
twelve  dollars  per  acre  is  a  common  rent ;  while  cotton-producing  land  of 
the  highest  quality  may  here  be  had,  in  fee ,  for  one-eighth  of  the  latter  sum. 
The  one  has  a  market  on  the  land,  and  the  other  has  not ;  and  in  this  single 
and  simple  fact  may  be  found  nearly  the  whole  reason  for  this  enormous 
disproportion. 

The  man  who  lives  in  Arkansas  has  to  employ  numerous  men,  horses, 
steamboats,  ships,  and  warehouses,  in  the  performance  of  every  exchange, 
and  the  consequence  is,  that  he  receives  for  the  produce  of  his  land  little 
more  than  compensation  for  his  labour,  and  his  land  has  scarcely  any  value. 
He  can  raise  for  market  little  else  than  cotton,  of  which  the  earth  yields  but 
little,  for  which  reason  it  commands  a  price  that  will  enable  it  to  bear  trans¬ 
portation.  His  surplus  com  is  almost  valueless;  while  to  attempt  to  raise  for 
market  potatoes  or  turnips,  of  which  the  earth  yields  by  hundreds  of  bushels 
to  the  acre,  would  be  ruinous. 

The  man  who  lives  near  New  York  exchanges  directly  with  the  consumer 
of  his  products  and  the  producers  of  the  commodities  that  he  desires  to  con¬ 
sume.  He  can  raise  potatoes,  turnips,  and  cabbages,  bulky  articles;  or 
strawberries  and  raspberries,  delicate  ones — none  of  which  will  bear  trans¬ 
portation.  He  sells  his  milk,  and  is  not  compelled  to  convert  it  into  butter 
or  cheese.  He  is  not  required  to  convert  his  corn  into  pork,  with  a  view  to 
diminishing  its  bulk  and  enabling  it  to  go  to  market.  His  products  are  all 
consumed  near  him,  and  he  can  readily  return  to  the  land  the  refuse,  increas¬ 
ing  its  productive  power  from  year  to  year.  The  amount  yielded  is  far 
more  than  wages  for  his  labour,  and  the  whole  surplus  is  the  rent  he  de¬ 
rives  from  his  land,  fifteen  or  twenty  years  purchase  of  which  is  its  market 
value. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


121 


That  value  is  three,  four,  five,  or  six  hundred  dollars  per  acre,  while  land 
in  Arkansas  is  now  offered  in  free  gift  to  those  who  will  come  and  pay  the 
taxes.  The  sole  cause  of  the  difference  is,  that  the  owner  of  the  one  ex¬ 
changes  directly  with  the  men  who  make  hats  and  coats,  shoes  and  stock¬ 
ings,  ploughs  and  harrows,  and  the  other  does  not.  To  make  the  land  of 
Arkansas  as  valuable  as  that  near  New  York,  it  would  be  necessary  that  its 
owner  should  exchange  for  hats  and  shoes,  ploughs  and  harrows,  as  freely  as 
does  the  man  of  New  York ;  that  is,  he  must  make  a  market  on  the  land  for 
the  products  of  the  land.  The  return  to  labour  would  then  be  large,  and 
the  value  of  man  would  rise ;  but  all  that  was  returned  over  and  above  the 
wages  of  the  labourer  would  be  rent,  and  the  value  of  land  would  rise. 
Men  would  then  become  free ;  first,  because  the  cost  of  raising  a  slave  would 
be  far  more  than  he  was  worth  when  raised ;  and,  second,  because  the  land 
would  be  too  valuable  to  be  cultivated  by  slaves. 

The  man  of  Wisconsin  can  afford  to  raise  hogs,  because  corn  is  but  twenty 
cents  a  bushel.  The  man  near  New  York  cannot,  because  corn  is  worth 
sixty  cents.  The  man  of  Arkansas  can  afford  to  raise  slaves,  because  they 
are  worth  as  much  as  they  cost  to  raise.  The  man  near  New  York  could  not, 
because  they  would  cost  him  more  than  their  services  would  repay.  Had 
Arkansas  a  market  on  the  land  for  all  the  products  of  the  land,  hired  labour 
would  be  found  so  much  cheaper  that  no  man  would  desire  to  raise  a  slave. 

The  man  who  owns  valuable  machinery  cannot  afford  to  employ  poor 
labour.  The  interest  on  his  factory  is  as  great  if  the  looms  produce  but 
twenty-five  yards  per  day  as  if  they  produced  fifty.  With  the  former  quan¬ 
tity  he  would  be  ruined.  With  the  latter  he  would  grow  rich.  The  slave 
will  give  him  the  one — the  freeman  the  other.  To  make  the  slave  work  like 
the  freeman,  he  must  have  an  inducement — that  is,  he  must  receive  wages. 

Were  a  large  landholder  near  New  York  offered  the  services  of  men,  their 
wives  and  families,  on  the  same  terms  as  the  planter  has  those  of  his  slaves — to 
feed,  clothe  and  lodge  them — he  could  not  profitably  accept  them )  and  yet 
the  money-price  of  such  labour  is  at  least  twice  as  great  as  at  the  South. 
The  price  of  their  food,  however,  would  be  tlirice  as  great,  and  they  would 
require  more  clothing,  and  their  children  must  be  educated ;  and  to  obtain 
all  these  things  there  would  be  needed  the  exertion  of  the  man  working  for 
himself,  and  the  economy  of  one  who  looked  to  the  future  for  himself  and  his 
family.  Were  such  an  offer  accepted,  the  party  accepting  would  speedily 
find  that  his  people  produced  less  and  wasted  more  than  those  of  his  neigh¬ 
bours,  and  that  the  rent  of  his  land  was  diminished  by  the  arrangement. 

Place  in  the  Southern  States  machinery  for  converting  into  cloth  half  a 
million  of  bales  of  cotton,  and  for  producing  half  a  million  of  tons  of  bar- 
iron,  and  there  would  be  created  a  great  demand  for  labour.  The  facility  of 
obtaining  iron  in  exchange  for  corn  and  cotton  would  cause  the  making  of 
thousands  of  miles  of  railroad,  and  here  would  be  a  new  demand  for  labour. 
The  mills,  the  furnaces,  and  the  roads  would  bring  towns,  filled  with  tailors, 
shoemakers,  hatters,  blacksmiths,  makers  of  ploughs  and  harrows,  looms, 
spindles,  and  steam-engines,  and  here  would  be  a  new  and  large  demand  for 
labour,  while  the  number  of  labourers  would  not  be  increased.  It  would 
then  become  necessary  to  economize  labour  because  of  its  increased  value. 
How  could  it  be  done  ?  The  slave  would  do  no  more  than  his  accustomed 
work,  without  an  inducement,  and  that  is  to  be  found  in  wages.  The  in¬ 
creased  product  of  his  labour  would  thenceforth  go  to  himself. 

Large  crops  would  then  be  obtained  in  lieu  of  small  ones,  and  one  hun¬ 
dred  bushels  of  corn,  or  one  hundred  pounds  of  cotton  would  then  buy 
more  cloth  or  iron  than  now  are  obtained  for  three.  The  increased  value  of 
crops  would  raise  the  price  of  land,  and  if  that  should  average  but  ten 


122 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


dollars  per  acre  over  the  South,  it  would  amount  to  four  thousand  millions 
of  dollars,  and  thus  would  the  planters  be  made  rich. 

Here,  then,  are  two  commodities,  man  and  land,  both  increasing  in  value, 
but  the  increase  in  the  one  goes  to  the  man  himself,  while  that  of  the  other 
goes  to  the  owner.  What  would  be  the  effect  of  this  on  their  market  value  ? 
Where  property  is  steadily  growing  in  value,  it  sells  for  twenty,  thirty,  and 
even  more  years’  purchase  of  its  rent.  Such  would  be  the  case  with  land. 

When  property  is  decreasing  in  value,  it  sells  for  six,  eight,  or  ten  years’ 
purchase  of  the  rent  that  can  be  commanded  for  its  use.  Such  would  be  the 
case  with  the  slave.  With  the  increased  productiveness  of  his  labour  he 
would  be  obtaining  for  himself  an  increased  proportion ,  leaving  a  diminished 
one  to  his  owner,  and  thus  would  the  value  of  the  slave  be  transferred  to 
the  land. 

To  raise  a  slave  would  then  become  too  costly.  What  then  would  become 
of  the  children  ?  Th q  parents,  everywhere,  make  sacrifices  for  their  offspring, 
and  by  them  alone  can  children  be  raised,  where  land  is  valuable.  To  in¬ 
duce  those  sacrifices  they  must  know  that  they  are  working  for  their  oion 
children,  and  not  for  their  master’s  slaves. 

With  increase  in  the  value  comes  the  division  of  land.  G-reat  plantations 
would  become  small  ones,  each  of  which  would  yield  more  than  is  now 
yielded  by  the  whole.  Small  farms  would  come,  cultivated  by  negro  tenants, 
and  thus  step  by  step  would  men,  their  wives  and  children,  become  free, 
as  their  late  owners  were  becoming  rich. 

To  accomplish  both  these  objects  it  is  necessary  that  the  people  of  the 
South  should  have  mills  and  furnaces  to  make  a  market  on  the  land  for  the 
products  of  the  land.  Those  they  cannot  have  without  protection  against  the 
monopoly  system  by  which  they  are  now  being  exhausted.  The  abolitionist 
and  the  slaveholder  should  then  unite  in  the  demand  for  the  adoption  of 
measures  tending  to  the  abolition  of  the  English  monopoly  of  machinery. 

The  former  would,  however,  say  that  the  process  would  be  too  slow.  On 
the  contrary,  it  would  be  most  rapid.  Had  the  tariff  of  1828  continued  in 
existence  to  the  present  time,  the  lands  of  the  South  would  now  be  trebled 
in  value,  and  the  slaves  of  the  South  would  now  be  far  advanced  towards 
freedom. 

The  latter  would  say  that  they  would  lose  their  property.  The  answer 
would  be  that  for  every  dollar  of  diminished  value  in  man,  they  would  have 
five,  or  ten,  or  twenty  in  the  increased  value  of  land.  It  would  be  precisely 
as  land  became  valuable  that  man  would  become  free. 

The  Union  is  now  agitated  by  the  question  whether  or  not  slavery  shall 
be  carried  beyond  its  present  limits.  The  agitators  are  determined  to  force 
the  Wilmot  proviso  upon  the  South,  and  the  people  of  the  latter  declare  that 
they  will  dissolve  the  Union  rather  than  submit  to  it.  Neither  is  disposed 
to  penetrate  below  the  surface  to  understand  the  cause  of  difficulty. 

If  a  demand  for  labour  existed  in  the  Slave  States,  consequent  upon  making 
a  market  on  the  land  for  its  products,  the  necessity  for  emigration  would 
pass  away,  and  immigration  would  begin.  The  people  of  the  South  would 
not  then  desire  to  go  to  California,  nor  would  those  of  the  North  deem  it 
necessary  to  pass  laws  to  prevent  them  from  so  doing.  All  the  discord  be¬ 
tween  the  different  portions  of  the  Union  results  from  the  existence  of  the 
colonial  system,  which  it  is  the  object  of  protection  to  terminate,  and  thereby 
raise  the  value  of  land  and  of  man,  black  or  white,  throughout  the  world. 

This  question  has  thus  far  been  looked  at  as  one  of  dollars  and  cents  merely, 
and  such  is  the  light  in  which  it  should  be  examined.  When  it  can  be 
shown  to  be  the  interest  of  a  body  of  men  to  pursue  a  certain  course,  we  may 
safely  calculate  upon  its  being  pursued  by  a  large  portion  of  them )  but 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


123 


when  we  confine  ourselves  to  showing  that  it  is  their  duty,  and  that  in  the 
performance  of  that  duty  they  must  neglect  their  interests,  we  may  as  safely 
calculate  that  very  few  will  follow  in  the  course  thus  indicated.  The  agitators 
of  the  North  would  impair  the  value  of  property  and  destroy  the  peace  of  the 
South,  while  deteriorating  the  condition  of  the  objects  of  their  sympathy,  and 
all  this  they  would  do  that  others  might  be  compelled  to  perform  their  duties. 
It  is  time  that  the  reasonable  men,  North  and  South,  should  understand 
each'  other,  and  determine  to  adopt  the  course  that  would  give  value  to  labour 
and  land,  and  thus  relieve  themselves  from  the  dangers  incident  to  the  agi¬ 
tation  of  men  who  would  destroy  the  value  of  both. 

With  every  step  of  improvement  in  the  value  of  land,  there  would  come 
improvement  in  the  physical  and  moral  condition  of  its  owner.  Throughout 
the  South,  there  is  even  now  a  growing  indisposition  to  hold  men  in  slavery ; 
but  how  rapidly  and  widely  would  that  feeling  extend  itself  were  the  owners 
of  land  and  of  slaves  to  feel  themselves  growing  richer  instead  of  poorer,  as 
is  now  the  case.  The  cause  of  emancipation  has  been  going  backwards  for 
the  last  twenty  years,  and  those  who  desire  to  know  why  it  is  so  have  only 
to  look  to  the  fact,  that,  in  1845-6,  600,000,000  of  pounds  of  cotton  would 
not  bring  as  much  iron  to  the  plantation  as  100,000,000  would  have  done 
thirty  years  before,  or  275,000,000  only  a  dozen  years  before.*  The  conse¬ 
quence  has  been  a  growing  tendency  to  the  abandonment  of  land,  and  an 
increased  regard  for  that  species  of  property  which  was  capable  of  being 
transferred,  which  land  was  not.  Harassed  and  annoyed  by  abolitionists  on 
the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  by  a  constant  deterioration  in  the  value  of  the 
only  crop  upon  which  he  has  been  accustomed  to  depend,  and  compelled  to 
change  from  that  to  sugar  or  to  wheat,  it  is  no  matter  of  surprise  that  there 
should  have  been  produced  the  state  of  feverish  excitement  now  witnessed 
everywhere  in  the  planting  States,  and  which  must  increase  unless  the  loom 
can  be  brought  to  take  its  place  by  the  side  of  the  cotton. 

It  is  a  common  impression,  that  the  people  of  South  Carolina  have  ex¬ 
hausted  their  rich  lands,  and  that  they  are  moving  away  from  poor  ones,  yet 
nothing  can  be  more  erroneous.  They  commenced  upon  poor  soils,  as  has 
been  done  in  every  country  of  the  world,  and  they  are  now  flying  from 
meadow-lands  capable  of  yielding  the  finest  artificial  grasses,  of  which  they 
have  millions  of  acres  untouched;  from  river  bottoms  uncleared,  from 
swamps  undrained,  and  from  marl,  and  lime,  and  iron  ore,  all  of  which  exist 
in  almost  unlimited  quantity.  Nature  has  done  for  that  State  every  thing 
that  could  be  done ;  but  man  has,  as  yet,  done  nothing  but  exhaust  the  poor 
soils  upon  which  the  work  of  cultivation  was  first  commenced,  and  therefore 
it  is  that  their  agricultural  reports,  and  their  newspapers  repeat,  year  after 
year,  the  question,  u  What  shall  the  cotton  planters  do  V ’ 

“  This,”  says  the  editor  of  the  South  Carolinian,  “  is  a  question  daily  asked  by  our 
planting  friends.  There  seems,”  he  continues,  “  at  present  great  solicitude  as  to  the  policy 
which  is  to  be  pursued  by  them  in  pitching  their  next  crop.  We  hear  tire  cry  of  less 
cotton  and  more  grain  ringing  from  one  end  of  the  State  to  the  other.  We  are  not  sur¬ 
prised  that  many  planters  who  plant  heavily  should  say  their  present  crop  will  bring 
them  in  debt  if  the  ruinous  prices  continue  much  longer.  No  planter  can  make  both 
ends  meet  who  receives  only  four  or  five  cents  for  his  cotton,  and  has  to  pay  the  present 
exorbitant  prices  for  bagging,  bale  rope,  pork,  mules,  sugar,  coffee,  salt,  and  iron.  Mules 
are  high,  pork  is  high,  bagging  and  rope  are  up  to  the  prices  of  the  twelve  and  fifteen 
cent  times  of  cotton,  and  sugar,  coffee,  iron,  and  salt  steadily  stand  at  the  old  rates.  If 
to  expenditures  for  these  necessary  articles,  the  planter  has  to  add  his  negro  clothes, 
shoes,  hats,  and  blankets,  he  will  have  nothing  left  to  remunerate  him  for  his  labour. 


*  See  page  1G,  ante. 


124 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


These  are  really  matters  which  they  should  ponder  over,  and  a  system  of  planting,  which 
does  not  repay  for  the  labour  and  investment  of  capital  engaged  in  it,  we  reasonably 
think  would  soon  be  abandoned.  But  it  will  not  be.  Our  planters  aie  taught  no  other 
systems  ;  they  do  not  know  how  they  will  supply  the  vacuum  which  would  be  made  by 
an  immediate  abandonment  of  the  cotton  crop.  It  would  take  several  years  before  they 
could  perfect,  with  the  strictest  economy,  those  arrangements  which  would  render  them 
entirely  independent  of  it  as  a  marketable  crop.  Therefore  the  step  taken  should  be 
wisely  considered  before  adopted,  and  the  utmost  caution  should  be  observed  in  making, 
what  we  sincerely  believe  would  be,  if  once  begun,  a  radical  change  in  our  system  of 
agriculture.  We  therefore  advise,  for  the  coming  year,  a  reduction  simply  of  one-third 
of  the  cotton  crop  throughout  the  State — devoting,  at  the  same  time,  the  land  thus  thrown 
out  of  the  cultivation  of  this  crop  to  the  production  of  grain  and  the  increase  of  labour, 
which  would  thus  be  given,  to  the  proper  manuring  and  improved  tillage  of  the  cotton 
planted  and  the  general  improvement  of  the  plantation.  By  this  process  the  cotton  lands 
would  be  increased  in  fertility,  and  the  increase  of  grain  which  would  follow  would 
greatly  facilitate  the  rearing  of  mules,  hogs,  cattle,  and  sheep  ;  and  in  a  short  time  the 
whole  State  could  render  itself  independent  of  the  exactions  of  our  Kentucky  neighbours, 
who  kindly  supply  us  with  all  such  things,  simply  at  the  expense  of  the  prosperity  of 
our  agricultural  population  ;  for,  in  practice,  they  annually  sweep  the  country  of  all  the 
surplus  cash  which  is  afloat  in  payment  for  their  bacon  and  mules.  We  would,  if  this 
system  were  adopted,  soon  be  able  to  produce  as  much  cotton  on  fifty  acres  as  we  do 
now  on  one  hundred  ;  and  the  investment  of  the  agricultural  profits  of  the  State  at  home, 
although  they  might  be  small,  would  have  a  wonderful  influence  on  general  prosperity, 
and  build  facilities  throughout  our  now  desolate  and  almost  unapproachable  State,  which 
would  not  only  enchain  our  own  sons  to  her  borders,  but  induce  capitalists  to  come  into 
our  midst,  to  make  their  dollars  tell  by  learning  us  a  lesson  of  practical  enterprise.  We 
say  to  the  planters,  raise  less  cotton,  more  grain,  more  mules,  more  hogs  ;  make  your  own 
negro  clothes  ;  raise  sheep — make  your  own  blankets  ;  erect  tan-yards  encourage  shoe¬ 
makers  and  hatters ;  in  fact,  artisans  of  ail  kinds  to  settle  permanently  amongst  you  ; 
labour  at  making  your  soil  rich,  and  do  not  devote  all  your  energies  to  wearing  it  out,  and 
soon  all  things  will  go  wrell  with  you.  You  will  not  make  so  many  bales  of  cotton ;  in 
fact,  may  not  cut  such  a  swell  on  your  factors’  books;  but,  take  our  word  for  it,  you  will 
have  happier  slaves,  richer  lands,  more  thrift  and  fewer  debts,  and  sleepless  thoughts,  to 
harass  your  hours  of  rest.” 

It  is  impossible  to  read  this  without  being  struck  with  the  fact,  that,  while, 
from  the  exhaustion  of  her  original  poor  soils,  and  her  inability  to  clear  and 
drain  rich  ones,  that  State  is  unable  to  produce  cotton  in  competition  with 
her  neighbours,  she  is  a  large  importer  of  other  agricultural  produce.  Her 
chief  city  is  supplied  with  hay  from  the  North,  notwithstanding  her  abund¬ 
ance  of  rich  meadow  land.  She  consumes  the  pork  of  Ohio,  and  she  uses 
the  mules  of  Kentucky;  and  thus,  while  selling  her  products  at  the  low 
price  that  is  necessarily  consequent  upon  her  distance  from  the  place  at 
which  her  food  and  cotton  are  to  be  converted  into  cloth,  she  buys  of  others 
food,  mules,  &c.,  at  the  highest  price,  because  of  her  distance  from  the  place 
of  production.  She  wastes  labour  and  manure  upon  the  road,  and  is  then 
surprised  at  the  exhaustion  that  results  necessarily  from  such  a  course  of 

policy.  .  .  .... 

The  remedy  for  all  this  may,  it  is  supposed,  be  found,  first,  in  diminishing 
the  quantity  of  cotton ;  but  that  is  already  diminishing  so  rapidly  that  the 
great  cause  of  apprehension  throughout  the  State  seems  to  be  that  its  cultiva¬ 
tion  must  soon  cease,  because  of  inability  to  produce  it.  She  desires  to  dimi¬ 
nish  the  supply  of  cotton,  while  her  people  are  flying  from  her  to  seek  the 
west,  there  to  produce  more  cotton.  Second,  the  lands  are  to  be  manured, 
but  we  are  not  told  from  whence  the  manure  is  to  come.  The  State  has 
scarcely  any  consumers  of  agricultural  produce  except  those  who  are  engaged 
in  its  production,  and  their  consumption  yields  but  little  manure.  Her 
horses  are  always  on  the  road,  wasting  the  manure  yielded  by  her  hay  and 
her  corn,  and  her  rice  and  cotton  are  consumed  abroad,  the  consequence  of 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


125 


which  is,  that  of  what  is  yielded  by  the  land  nothing  goes  back,  and  the 
land  and  its  owner  become  impoverished  together.  Her  population  dimi¬ 
nishes.  Everybody  is  seeking  to  find  elsewhere  a  better  place  for  employ¬ 
ing  his  capital  and  his  labour.  Under  such  circumstances  it  is  useless  to 
talk  about  artificial  manures,  and  her  swamps  and  river  bottoms,  in  which 
manure  has  for  ages  accumulated,  will  not  pay  the  cost  of  clearing  for  the 
raising  of  three  or  four  hundred  pounds  of  cotton  to  the  acre.  Give  her  a 
consuming  population  that  will  make  a  market  on  the  ground  for  the  tons 
of  potatoes,  and  turnips,  and  hay,  and  the  milk,  and  the  veal,  that  will  be 
yielded  by  rich  soils,  and  the  State  will  become  one  of  the  richest  of  the 
Union.  It  is  population  that  makes  food  come  from  the  rich  soils,  as  we  see 
to  be  the  case  in  Belgium,  and  England,  and  New  England;  and  it  is  depo¬ 
pulation  that  drives  men  back  to  the  poorer  ones,  as  is  shown  in  Ireland, 
India,  South  Carolina,  and  Virginia.  The  people  of  Ireland  are  flying  from 
each  other  as  if  from  pestilence,  and  yet  that  unfortunate  island,  in  which 
men  are  restricted  almost  entirely  to  the  cultivation  of  the  land,  offers  us 
now  the  chief  European  market  for  our  surplus  food,  while  South  Carolina, 
destitute  of  consumers,  is  one  of  the  principal  markets  of  populous  Ohio 
for  her  surplus  products.  Whenever  the  former  shall  begin  to  consume  on 
the  land  the  products  of  the  land,  she  will  have  manure  to  keep  in  cultiva¬ 
tion  her  poor  soils,  and  she  will  acquire  ability  to  clear  and  drain  the  rich 
ones,  and  then  she  may  export  hay  instead  of  importing  it.  Ireland,  like 
South  Carolina,  abounds  in  rich  soils  untouched.  She  has  millions  of  acres 
of  bog  that  could  be  drained  with  far  less  labour,  and  at  far  less  cost,  than 
have  been  required  for  similar  lands  in  England,  and  it  is  estimated  that 
three  millions  of  these  acres  would  afford  food  for  six  millions  of  people; 
but,  also,  like  South  Carolina,  she  is  compelled  to  waste  on  the  road  Ihe 
labour  and  manure  yielded  by  the  poorer  soils  now  in  cultivation,  and  is 
thereby  rendered  too  poor  to  clear  and  drain  the  rich  ones,  which  never 
have  paid,  and  never  can  pay,  the  cost  of  preparation,  without  the  presence 
of  a  consuming  population  requiring  the  potatoes,  and  the  turnips,  and  the 
hay,  of  which  the  earth  yields  by  tons,  and  not  by  pounds  or  bushels. 

Had  the  people  of  the  Southern  States,  during  the  last  twenty  years,  been 
making  for  themselves,  out  of  their  own  coal,  ore,  and  limestone,  an  average 
of  only  250,000  tons  of  iron,  the  quantity  made  in  that  time  would  have 
been  five  millions  of  tons,  all  of  which  would  now  be  there  in  the  various 
forms  of  agricultural  and  manufacturing  machinery,  railroads,  ears,  and  loco¬ 
motives,  and  they  would  now  be  adding  to  the  quantity  at  the  rate  of  half  a 
million  of  tons  annually. 

Fifty  thousand  tons  of  iron  would  make  almost  500  miles  of  single  track 
road.  Let  us  suppose  that  they  averaged  annually  but  half  that  quantity, 
and  had  now,  as  they  might  easily  have,  5000  miles  of  road  running  through 
populous  manufacturing  villages  in  which  they  were  converting  their  cotton 
into  cloth  or  yarn  for  the  supply  of  the  world,  and  then  let  us  estimate  what 
would  be  the  increased  value  of  the  landed  property  of  those  States.  An 
average  annual  product  exceeding  that  of  the  present  time  to  the  extent  of 
only  one  dollar  per  acre  of  the  States  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  would 
represent  a  capital  of  six  thousand  millions  of  dollars ,  being  perhaps  five 
times  the  present  value  of  their  slave  population,  all  of  which  would  be  at 
this  moment  on  the  highway  towards  freedom  as  their  masters  were  making 
their  way  towards  fortune.* 

Instead  of  pursuing  a  course  that  would  have  enabled  them  to  profit  by  the 

*  Emigration  from  the  rich  lands  of  the  older  States  of  the  South  would  then  cease,  and 
immigration  would  begin,  and  thenceforth  the  increase  in  the  value  of  land  would  be 
immense. 


,  126 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


magnificence  of  their  position,  the  planters  have  allowed  themselves  to 
be  taxed  for  the  maintenance  of  the  people  of  England,  who  produce  little 
themselves,  and  have  therefore  but  very  little  to  give  in  exchange  for  the  vast 
mass  of  agricultural  products  they  receive,  the  consequence  of  which  is,  that 
their  customers  are  becoming  poorer  every  day,  and  they  themselves  are  fast 
passing  towards  a  state  of  exhaustion  similar  to  that  they  have  produced  in 
Ireland,  India,  the  West  Indies,  and  eve.ry  other  country  that  has  been  com¬ 
pelled  to  submit  to  their  most  unnatural  system.  A  writer,  describing  the 
present  position  of  affairs,  says  : — 

u  As  a  disinterested  spectator  of  events,  I  assure  you  that  during  a  residence  of  nearly 
ten  years  in  England,  I  have  not  seen  the  different  branches  of  trade  in  so  disastrous' a 
position  as  they  are  at  present;  and  from  the  petty  dealer  to  the  wholesale  tradesman,  I 
have  never  heard  so  many  complaints  about  the  wretched  state  of  trade,  not  only  in  the 
metropolis,  but  generally  throughout  the  country.  I  place  more  confidence  in  the  state¬ 
ments  of  a  dozen  respectable  tradesmen  than  I  do  in  ‘trade  circulars,’  which  are  usually 
got  up  to  serve  certain  interests,  or  to  cover  the  real  truth,  and  incite  speculation.  If  I 
were  to  give  an  impartial  opinion,  I  should  unhesitatingly  say  that  the  repeal  of  the  corn- 
laws,  the  repeal  of  the  navigation  laws  and  the  railway  mania,  have  together  produced 
the  present  panic — for  it  is  useless  to  say  that  there  is  not  a  panic  ;  the  leading  men  of 
nearly  every  class  declare  it  by  their  looks,  their  words,  and  their  actions. 

“The  parish  of  St.  Clement’s  Danes,  one  of  the  richest  parishes  of  the  metropolis,  where 
I  am  now  residing,  shows  the  real  condition  of  the  general  trades-people  of  London. 
The  Church-warden  of  this  parish  recently  informed  me  that  three  applications  had  been 
made  to  the  parishioners  for  the  amount  of  their  poor  rates  and  other  taxes,  and  not  more 
than  one  in  twenty  had  paid  their  bills,  and  he  intended  to  issue  summonses  against  the 
delinquents.  He  also  remarked,  that  during  a  residence  of  eighteen  years  in  this  parish, 
he  had  never  known  trade  to  be  so  dull  as  it  is  now.” 

What  prospect  there  is  of  improvement  may  be  gathered  from  the  follow¬ 
ing  extract  from  a  journal  that  is  the  highest  free-trade  authority  in  Eng¬ 
land  : — 

«  We  may  not  unreasonably  fear,  therefore,  that,  so  far  as  Ireland  is  concerned,  a  con¬ 
siderable  source  of  the  progressive  increase  of  the  population  and  wealth  of  the  empire 
is  much  diminished,  if  not  absolutely  dried  up.  Other  sources  of  increase  have,  at  the 
same  time,  been  opened  to  us;  but  whether  these  will  balance,  or  more  than  balance,  the 
loss  occasioned  by  the  condition  of  Ireland  is  more  than  we  can  say.  For  many  years 
the  condition  of  the  population  there  was  gradually  deteriorating,  while  their  numbers 
increased  ;  that  terrible  process  has  at  length  reached  its  climax,  and  the  present  genera¬ 
tion  has  to  sustain  the  deteriorated,  and  we  fear  demoralized  mass,  without  any  imme¬ 
diate  hope  of  their  being  restored  to  habits  of  productive  industry.  It  seems  right  to  put 
all  classes  at  once  on  their  guard,  lest  the  decrease  of  population  noticed  in  the  last 
quarter,  may,  from  the  causes  we  have  mentioned,  be  an  index  to  a  permanently  slower 
increase  in  population  than  has  hitherto  taken  place.” — Economist  (London.) 

With  such  a  state  of  things  the  consumption  of  our  products  cannot 
increase.  The  question  to  be  answered  is,  “  Can  it  even  be  maintained  ?” 
Whenever  population  diminishes  in  its  ratio  of  growth,  it  is  an  evidence  of  a 
deterioration  of  condition,  and  when  that  is  going  on,  the  first  effect  is  felt  in 
the  diminished  demand  for  clothing,  for  food  is  the  want  that  must  be  first 
supplied. 

Let  it  but  be  known  that  the  people  of  this  country,  North,  South,  East, 
and  West,  are  determined  that  the  seat  of  the  cotton  and  iron  manufactures^ 
of  the  world  is  to  be  here,  and  the  transfer  of  men  and  machinery  will 
be  such  as  to  exceed  all  present  calculation,  and  every  man  that  comes  will 
consume  three,  four,  five,  six,  or  twelve  times  as  much  cotton  as  at  present, 
while  taking  all  his  food  from  our  own  farmers,  who  then  will  consume  three 
pounds  where  now  they  consume  but  one.  The  remedy  for  all  the  grievances 
of  the  planters  is  in  their  own  hands,  and  it  lies  in  the  pursuance  of  a  policy 
advocated  by  the  fathers  of  the  Revolution,  and  by  every  chief  magistrate  of 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


127 


the  Union,  from  Washington  to  Jackson,  and  of  all  of  them  hut  two  were 
from  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  and  all  but  those  two  elected  by  the 
same  party  that  now  repudiates  protection. 

Of  all  the  chapters  in  the  history  of  the  people  of  this  Union,  the  most 
honourable  to  them,  as  I  believe,  is  that  in  which  is  recorded  the  history  of 
the  negro  race.  The  three  hundred  thousand  barbarians  imported  into  this 
country  are  now  represented  by  almost  four  millions  of  people,  far  advanced 
towards  civilization  and  freedom,  and  to  that  number  they  have  grown 
because  they  have  been  well  fed,  well  clothed,  well  sheltered,  and  reasonably 
worked.  It  is  a  case  totally  without  a  parallel  in  the  world,  the  history  of 
which  may  be  challenged  for  the  production  of  a  body  of  men  invested  with 
so  much  power  over  their  fellow-men  as  has  been  exercised  by  the  people  of 
the  South,  and  using  it  so  moderately  as  to  permit  so  rapid  an  advance  in 
numbers  and  so  great  an  improvement  of  condition. 

Nevertheless,  they  are  unceasingly  stigmatized  as  slave-drivers  and  negro- 
breeders,  and  by  the  nation  which  lives  out  of  them,  and  which  of  all  the 
nations  of  Europe  possessing  colonies  has  most  misused  its  power  over  the  ne¬ 
gro  race ,  because  the  only  one  which  has  established  laws  prohibiting  the 
consumer  and  the  producer  from  taking  their  places  by  each  other.  It  was 
remarked  many  years  since,  by  an  intelligent  English  traveller,*  that  to  the 
French  islands  men  went  to  remain  and  to  exercise  trades,  but  to  the  Eng¬ 
lish  ones  they  went  only  to  endeavour  to  make  fortunes,  and  then  return. 
So  has  it  everywhere  been,  and  what  have  been  the  results  ?  In  India,  poverty 
the  most  extraordinary,  and  a  succession  of  famines  and  pestilences  without 
a  parallel ;  in  the  West  Indies,  a  waste  of  life  equally  unparalleled,  requir¬ 
ing  constant  importations  for  the  mere  maintenance  of  their  numbers.  From 
1817  to  1829,  a  period  of  twelve  years,  the  slaves  of  Jamaica  were  reduced 
in  numbers,  by  death  alone ,  ten  per  cent. ;  whereas  had  they  been  here  they 
would  have  increased  thirty  per  cent.  The  number  imported  into  that  one 
island  could  not  have  been  less  than  double  that  imported  into  this  Union, 
and  yet,  while  the  larger  number  is  at  this  day  represented  by  three  hundred 
thousand ,  the  smaller  is  represented  by  almost  four  millions.  The  slave 
chapter  of  British  history  is  as  disgraceful  as  that  of  the  Union  is  honourable. 

That  slavery  even  yet  exists  among  us,  is  due  to  the  monopoly  system 
which  has  destroyed  the  value  of  land  in  Ireland,  India,  the  West  Indies, 
and  all  other  of  the  British  colonies,  and  yet  the  nation  by  which  that  sys¬ 
tem  was  instituted  heads  the  crusade  against  slavery,  while  converting  the 
freemen  of  Ireland  and  India  into  slaves,  and  denouncing  the  planters,  at 
whose  expense  she  lives,  as  unworthy  to  be  received  into  the  society  of  free¬ 
born  Englishmen ;  and  those  very  planters  are  united  in  the  support  of  the 
system  by  which  they  are  impoverished,  and  the  people  by  whom  they  are 
thus  denounced  ! 


The  following  article  on  the  position  and  prospects  of  the  cotton  trade, 
received  at  the  moment  that  the  above  was  in  the  press,  so  fully  confirms  the 
views  given  in  a  previous  chapter,  that  I  am  induced,  long  as  it  is,  to  reprint 
it  at  full  length.  It  is  from  the  London  Economist,' j*  the  highest  free-trade 
authority  in  Europe : 

“  The  quarters  whence  Great  Britain  draws  her  supply  of  raw  cotton  may  be  classed 
under  five  divisions : — North  America,  Brazil,  Egypt,  India,  and  Miscellaneous  Countries, 
chiefly  our  own  colonies.  On  the  increase  of  production  in  these  lands,  and  oil  the  pro¬ 
portion  of  that  increase  which  is  sent  to  this  country,  depends  our  capability  of  extending 
our  cotton  manufacture,  or  even  of  maintaining  it  at  its  present  level.  Let  us  therefore 
consider  each  of  these  sources  of  supply  in  turn,  that  we  may  be  able  to  form  a  fair  esti- 


*  Coleridge.  Six  Months  in  the  West  Indies. 


•j-  Dec.  1,  1849. 


128 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


mate  of  our  expectations  from  each.  North  America,  as  the  most  important,  we  will  leave 
to  the  last. 

Brazil  is  the  chief  source  whence  we  draw  our  supply  of  long-stapled  cottons.  Brazil 
has  sent  us  as  follows : 


1830 — 1834,  inclusive 
1835—1839  — 

1840—1844  — 

1845—1849  — 


Brazil  Cotton. 

Bales  imported  in  five  years. 

744,884 

643,438 

471,226 

495,685 


Bales  imported  per  annum. 

148,977 

128,687 

94,245 

99,137 


In  this  and  the  succeeding  tables  the  imports  for  1849  have  been  found  by  adding  to 
the  known  imports  for  the  first  ten  months,  the  quantity  we  have  yet  reason  to  expect,  dr 
that  which  ordinarily  arrives  in  November  and  December. 

From  Brazil,  therefore,  our  annual  supply  has  diminished  nearly  50,000  bales ;  or  if  we 
compare  the  two  extreme  years  of  the  series,  1830  and  1848,  the  falling  off  is  from 
192,267  bales  to  100,244,  or  92,000  bales. 

Egypt. _ Our  Egyptian  supply,  which  is  also  long-stapled  cotton,  has  ranged  as  fol¬ 

lows  : — 

Egyptian  Cotton. 


1830 — 1834,  inclusive 
1835—1839  — 

1840—1844  — 

1845—1849  — 


Biles  imported  per  annum. 

19,899 


Bales  imported  in  five  years. 

99,899 

173,031  ....  34,606 

207,913  ....  41,583 

224,579  ....  44,918 

The  supply  from  Egypt,  however,  seems  to  have  reached  its  maximum  in  1845,  in 
which  year  we  received  81,344  bales!  This  year  it  does  not  reach  half  that  amount. 
Moreover,  this  country,  from  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  its  government,  is  little  to  be 
relied  upon, — the  supply  having  varied  from  40,290  bales  in  1832  to  2,569  bales  in 
1833;  and  again  from  18,245  bales  in  1842,  to  66,000  bales  in  1844. 

From  Other  Quarters,  chiefly  the  West  Indies,  the  supply  has  been  : — 

Miscellaneous. 

Bales  imported  in  five  years.  Bales  imported  per  annum. 

68,873  ....  13,775 

161,369  ....  32,274 

117,887  ....  23,577 

44,833  .  8,966 

East  Ixdies. _ Our  supply  from  this  quarter  varies  enormously,  from  90,000  to  270,000 

bales  per  annum,  inasmuch  as  we  only  receive  that  proportion  of  the  crop  which  our 
prices  may  divert  from  China  or  from  internal  consumption.  Our  imports  thence  have 
been  as  follows. 

East  India  Cotton. 

Bales  imported  in  five  years.  Bales  imported  per  annum. 

403,976  ....  80,795 

723,263  ....  144,653 

1,167,294  ....  233,459 

899,213  ....  179,852 


1830 — 1834,  inclusive 
1835—1839  — 

1840—1844  — 

1835—1849  — 


1830 — 1834,  inclusive 
1835—1839  — 

1840—1844  — 

1845—1849  — 


The  summary  of  our  supply  from  all  these  quarters  combined  is: 


1830 — 1834,  inclusive 
1835—1839  — 

1840—1844  — 

1845—1849  — 


Summary. 

Imports  in  five  years. 

1,317,632 
1,701,101 
1,964,320 
1,664,310  . 


Imports  per  annum. 

263,526 

340,220 

392,864 

332,862 


The  result  of  this  inquiry,  then  is,  that  our  average  annual  supply  from  all  quarters, 
except  the  United  States ,  was  in  five  years  ending  1849  less  by  7,358  bales  than  in  the  five 
years  ending  1839,  and  less  by  60,000  bales  than  in  the  five  years  ending  1844.  Of  this 
diminished  supply, moreover,  we  have  been  exporting  an  increasing  quantity, viz:  396,000 
bales  in  the  last  five  years,  against  342,000  bales  the  previous  five  years. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


129 


United  States. — We  may  now  turn  our  attention  to  our  last  and  main  source  of  sup^ 
ply,  America,  which  has  sent  us : — 

American  Cotton. 


1830 — 1834,  inclusive 
1835—1839  — 

1840—1844  — 

1845—1849  — 


Imports  in  five  years. 

3,241,958 

4,308,610 

5,802,829 

6,188,144 


Imports  per  annum. 

648,391 

861,722 

1,160,566 

1,237,619 


The  last  five  years,  it  should  be  observed,  include  the  three  largest  crops  ever  known, 
one  very  deficient,  and  one  rather  so. 

It  is  a  known  and  admitted  fact  among  those  conversant  with  these  matters,  that  a 
price  of  4 d.  a  lb.  for  middling  uplands,  laid  down  in  Liverpool,  leaves  sufficient  profit  to 
the  American  planter  to  induce  him  to  grow  as  much  cotton  as  his  negroes  can  gather ; 
and  that,  therefore,  as  the  average  price  has  scarcely  ever  ranged  so  low  as  this  for  any 
great  number  of  weeks,  the  possible  increase  of  the  crop  of  cotton  will  keep  pace  with  the 
actual  increase  of  the  Negro  population  ;  and  cannot  do  more.  Now  the  negroes  increase 
at  a  very  regular  rate  of  3  per  cent,  per  annum.  If,  therefore,  these  premises  be  correct, 
it  will  follow  that  the  cotton  crop  of  each  year  will  surpass  that  of  each  preceding  year 
of  equally  favourable  conditions  (i.  e.,  as  to  good  planting  and  picking  weather,  late  frosts, 
freedom  from  worms,  inundations,  &c.)  by  3  per  cent.  Accordingly,  we  find  this  to  have 
been  pretty  closely  the  case,  as  the  following  tables  will  show.  The  years  1840,  1843, 
and  1845,  were  very  favourable  years  for  the  growth  and  gathering  of  cotton.  Let  us 
see  what  crop  each  of  these  years,  calculated  on  the  above  bases  (3  per  cent,  yearly  in¬ 


crease,)  would  give  for  1849,  also  a 

favourable  year : — 

Actual  crop. 

No.  of  years. 

Per  cent.  Estimated  crop  of  1S49. 

1840 

.  2,178,000 

.9 

27 

2,866,000 

1843 

.  2,379,000 

.  .6 

18 

2,807,220 

1845 

.  2,394,000 

4 

•  •  ^  •  • 

12 

2,681,280 

Average 

•  •  • 

•  •  • 

2,784,833 

Actual  crop  . 

•  •  •  • 

•  •  • 

2,730,000 

From  the 

following  table  it  will 

be  seen  that,  assuming  the  year 

1838  as  a  starting 

point,  the  average  increase  of  the  American  crop  for  the  last  12  years  has  not  quite 
reached  3  per  cent. :  and  in  fact  wherein  for  any  short  series  of  years  this  rate  has  been 
exceeded,  it  has  been  attributable  simply  to  an  unusual  run  of  favourable  seasons. 


Year. 

What  the  crop  would  have  been  with 
no  extraordinary  casualties,  and  increasing  at 
the  rate  of  3  per  cent,  yearly. 

Actual  crop. 

1837—38 

.  .  .  -  ... 

1,801,500 

1838—39 

.  .  .  1,855,500 

1,360,500 

1839—40 

1,911,200 

2,178,000 

1840 — 41 

1,968,500 

1,635,000 

1841—42 

2,027,500 

1,683,500 

1842—43 

2,088,300 

2,379,000 

1843—44 . 

2,151,000 

2,030,500 

1844—45 

2,215,000  .  .  . 

2,394,500 

1845—46 

2,282,000 

2,100,500 

1846—47 

2,350,500 

1,778,500 

1847—48 

2,421,000 

2,347,500 

1848—49 

2,493,000 

2,728,500 

1849—50 

2,568,300 

2,350,000  estimated 

Average 

2,194,400 

2,080,500 

It  is  clear,  then,  that  we  shall  be  sufficiently  near  the  mark 

for  any  practical  conclu- 

sions,  if  we  assume 

the  average  increase  of  the  American  cotton  crop  at  3  per  cent,  per 

annum,  barring  any 

unusual  freedom  from,  or  occurrence  of,  disasters,  such  as  sometimes 

happen.  Let  us  now  inquire  what  proportion  of  this  increase 

will  fall  to  our  share. 

The  consumption  of  the  United  States  itself  has  been  steadily  on  the  advance,  and 

now  increases  at  an 

average  annual  rate  of  about  35,000  bales. 

It  is  now  about  520,000 

bales  yearly.  That  of  the  continent  now  reaches  (of  American  cotton)  about  700,000 
bales.  America  and  the  continent,  therefore,  require  about  1,200,000  bales  at  present, 
and  will  require  more  each  year.  Moreover,  they  will  always  take  precedence  of  Great 


130 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


Britain,  as  their  margin  of  profit  is  larger,  and  a  small  increase  of  price  is  of  less  conse¬ 
quence  to  their  manufacturers  than  to  ours,  and  checks  consumption  less.  The  following 
table  will  throw  much  light  on  this  question  : 


5  Years. 

1840—44 

1845—49 


Crop  of 

American  cotton. 

9,905,638 

11,349,921 


Import  of  American  cotton  Export  of  American  cot- 
into  Great  Britain.  ton  from  Great  Britain. 


5,802,829  .  295,600 

6,188,144  .  596,640 


American  cotton  retained 
for  home  consumption. 


5,507,229 

5,591,504 


Increase 


1,444,283  .  385,315 


301,040 


84,275 


From  this  table  it  appears,  that,  while  the  groivth  of  American  cotton  in  the  last  five 
years  exceeded  that  of  the  previous  five  by  the  unprecedented  quantity  of  nearly  one 
million  and  a  half  of  bales,  of  this  increase  only  385,000  reached  this  country,  and  of 
this  we  had  to  re-export  more  than  three-fourths ,  leaving  an  annual  increase  available  for  home 
consumption  of  only  17,000  bales.  For  any  augmentation  of  consumption  beyond  this, 
we  have  been  drawing  on  our  stocks. 

We  will  now  bring  into  one  view  the  whole  supply  and  the  whole  consumption  of  all 
kinds  of  cotton  in  Great  Britain  during  the  last  ten  years : 


Years. 

1840—44 

1845—49 

Bales  im¬ 
ported  from  all 
quarters. 

7,767,149 

7,852,454 

Bales 

exported. 

637,650 

992,850 

Retained 
for  home  con¬ 
sumption. 

7,129,499 

6,859,604 

Supply  for 
home  consumpt’n 
annually. 

1,425,900 

1,371,920 

Actual  con- 
consumption 
annually. 

1,290,480 

1,477,360 

Actual  con- 
consumpt’n 
weekly. 

24,810 

28,410 

Increase 

85,305 

355,200  . 

• 

•  •  • 

186,880 

3,600 

Decrease 

We  have 

•  • 

taken  the 

269,895  53,980 

actual  consumption  of  1849  at  1,650,000 

bales  only,  for  reasons 

hereafter  stated. 

Now,  bearing  in  mind  that  the  figures  in  the  above  tables  are,  with  scarcely  an  exception ,  ascer¬ 
tained  facts ,  and  not  estimates ,  let  us  sum  the  conclusions  to  which  they  have  conducted 
us ;  conclusions  sufficient,  if  not  to  alarm  us,  yet  certainly  to  create  much  uneasiness,  and 
to  suggest  great  caution  on  the  part  of  all  concerned,  directly  or  indirectly,  in  the  great 
manufacture  of  England. 

1.  That  our  supply  of  cotton  from  miscellaneous  quarters  ( excluding  the  United  States) 
has  for  many  years  been  decidedly,  though  irregularly,  decreasing. 

2.  That  our  supply  of  cotton  from  all  quarters ,  (including  the  United  States,)  available 
for  home  consumption,  has  of  late  years  been  falling  off  at  the  rate  of  1,000  bales  a  week, 
while  our  consumption  has  been  increasing  during  the  same  period  at  the  rate  of  3,600 
bales  a  week. 

3.  That  the  United  States  is  the  only  country  where  the  growth  of  cotton  is  on  the 
increase  ;  and  that  there  even  the  increase  does  not  on  an  average  exceed  3  per  cent.,  or 
80,000  bales  annually,  which  is  barely  sufficient  to  supply  the  increasing  demand  for  its 
own  consumption,  and  for  the  continent  of  Europe. 

4.  That  no  stimulus  of  price  can  materially  augment  this  annual  increase,  as  the  plant¬ 
ers  always  grow  as  much  cotton  as  the  negro  population  can  pick. 

5.  That,  consequently,  if  the  cotton  manufacture  of  Great  Britain  is  to  increase  at  all, 
on  its  present  footing,  it  can  only  be  enabled  to  do  so  by  applying  a  great  stimulus  to  the 
growth  of  cotton  in  other  countries  adapted  for  the  culture. 

Within  the  memory  of  many  now  living,  a  great  change  has  taken  place  in  the  coun¬ 
tries  from  which  our  main  bulk  of  cotton  is  procured.  In  the  infancy  of  the  manufac¬ 
ture,  our  chief  supply  came  from  the  Mediterranean,  especially  from  Smyrna  and  Malta. 
Neither  of  the  places  now  sends  us  more  than  a  few  chance  bags  occasionally.  In  the 
last  century,  the  West  Indies  were  our  principal  source;  in  the  year  1786,  out  of 
20,000,000  lbs.  imported,  5,000,000  came  from  Smyrna,  and  the  rest  from  the  West 
Indies;  in  1848,  the  West  Indies  sent  us  only  about  1,300  bales;  in  1781,  Brazil  began 
to  send  us  cotton,  and  the  supply  thence  continued  to  increase,  though  irregularly,  till 
1830,  since  which  time  it  has  fallen  off  to  one-half.  About  1822,  Egyptian  cotton  began 
to  come  in  considerable  quantities,  its  cultivation  having  been  introduced  into  that  coun¬ 
try  two  years  before.  The  import  exceeded  80,000  bales  in  1845  ;  the  average  of 
the  last  three  years  has  not  been  a  third  of  that  quantity.  Cotton  has  always  been  grown 
largely  in  Hindostan ;  but  it  did  not  send  much  to  England  till  about  thirty  years  ago. 
In  the  five  years  ending  1824,  the  yearly  average  import  was  33,500  bales  ;  in  1841,  it 
reached  274,000,  and  may  now  be  roughly  estimated  at  200,000  bales  a  year. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


131 


Now,  what  is  the  reason  why  these  countries,  after  having  at  one  time  produced  so 
largely  and  so  well,  should  have  ceased  or  curtailed  their  growth  within  recent  years  ? 
It  is  clearly  a  question  of  price.  Let  us  consider  a  few  of  the  cases  : 


Lowest 

Fall 

Lowest 

Fall 

Lowest 

Fall 

Lowest 

Fall 

At  the  close 

price  of 

per. 

price  of 

per 

price  of 

per 

price  of 

per 

of  the  years 

Pernambuco. 

ct. 

Maranham. 

ct. 

Egyptian. 

ct. 

Surat. 

cent. 

1836 — 39  inclusive 

9?j  d. 

— 

8  id. 

— 

10$d, 

— 

4£d. 

— 

1840—43  . 

7 

— 

5f 

— 

7 

— 

3  i 

— 

1844—48  . 

5t 

36 

4t 

42 

43 

2f 

40 

Here,  surely,  may  be  read  the  explanation  of  the  deplorable  falling  off  in  our  miscel¬ 
laneous  supply.  From  the  four  years  ending  1839,  when  the  great  stimulus  was  given 
which  procured  us  so  ample  a  supply  during  the  succeeding  period,  to  the  quinquennial 
period  ending  1848,  there  has  been  a  fall  in  price,  on  an  average,  of  40  per  cent.  Un¬ 
less,  therefore,  we  assume  either  an  enormous  margin  of  profit  in  the  earlier  period,  or  an 
extreme  diminution  in  the  cost  of  producing  the  article  of  late  years,  such  a  fall  in  price 
would  be  quite  sufficient  to  direct  capital  and  industry  into  other  channels,  and  to  prevent 
so  bulky  an  article  as  cotton  from  being  grown  or  forwarded. 

In  both  Brazil  and  India,  freight  and  carriage  form  an  inordinate  proportion  of  the 
price  of  cotton.  In  both  countries  the  bales  are  carried  great  distances  on  the  backs 
of  mules  or  other  beasts  of  burden.  The  deficiency  of  good  roads,  convenient  vehi¬ 
cles,  and  safely  navigable  rivers,  in  the  cotton  districts  of  both  countries,  swells  the 
expense  of  bringing  the  bales  to  the  shipping  ports  to  such  an  extent,  that,  when  prices 
are  low  in  England,  the  ultimate  net  remittance  to  the  planter  is  quite  insufficient  to  re¬ 
pay  the  cost  of  growing,  picking,  and  packing.  In  some  years,  the  price  of  much  of  the 
Surat  cotton  sent  to  this  country  was  so  low  as  only  to  remit  one  penny  a  pound  to  the 
shipper  at  Bombay;  and  by  the  time  this  reached  the  actual  grower,  it  had  probably 
dwindled  away,  through  the  expenses  of  carriage,  to  a  sum  inadequate  even  to  pay  the 
government  rent.  Our  supply  from  both  these  countries  will  depend  entirely  upon  price. 
In  Brazil,  where  we  believe  the  sugar  cultivation  is  less  profitable  than  formerly,  a  range 
of  prices  50  per  cent,  higher  than  those  of  the  last  few  years  would  probably  induce  the 
planters  to  increase  their  cotton  grounds,  and  would  repay  them  for  so  doing.  In  regard  to 
the  East  Indies,  where  large  quantities  are  always  grown,  our  supply  thence  depends  upon 
two  things — first,  the  demand  for  China,  which  is  usually  supplied  before  Great  Britain  ; 
and,  secondly,  on  the  question  whether  the  net  price  at  Bombay  or  Madras  will  pay  for 
picking,  cleaning,  packing,  and  transporting  to  the  coast.  Under  the  stimulus  of  high  prices, 
(such  as  prevail  at  this  moment,)  large  quantities,  would,  we  doubt  not,  be  sent  forward. ; 
and  the  price  that  will  be  requisite  to  secure  such  large  supplies  will  diminish  as  the 
means  of  carriage  are  increased  and  cheapened.  If  the  prices  of  the  last  five  years 
continue,  we  believe  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  supply  will  inevitably  continue  to 
fall  off. 

We  do  not,  however,  participate  in  the  sanguine  expectations  which  many  parties  en¬ 
tertain,  that  even  with  higher  prices  the  quantity  and  quality  of  East  Indian  cotton  sent 
to  this  country  can  progress  so  rapidly  as  to  render  us  at  all  independent  of  the  Ameri¬ 
can  supply.  For,  in  the  first  place,  the  absence  of  good  roads  or  navigable  rivers  in  the 
cotton  districts,  the  length  of  time  and  expenditure  of  capital  needed  before  the  want  of 
those  can  be  supplied  by  the  establishment  of  railroads,  and  the  languid  and  unenterpris¬ 
ing  character  of  the  people,  must  necessarily  cause  any  material  increase  of  supply  (at 
least  over  250,000  bales  per  annum)  to  be  a  matter  of  very  slow  and  costly  operation. 
And,  in  the  second  place,  the  quality  of  the  cotton  grown  in  India  is  peculiar ;  and  this 
peculiarity  is  still  traceable,  though  in  a  modified  degree,  in  whatever  locality  and  from 
whatever  seed  the  plant  is  grown,  even  in  the  best  specimens  (improved  as  they  unques¬ 
tionably  are)  which  have  of  late  been  sent  to  this  country;  and  this  peculiarity  will 
always,  we  fear,  prevent  it  from  being  substitutable  for  American  cotton,  except  to  a  very 
limited  extent. 

Our  hopes  lie  in  a  very  different  direction ;  we  look  to  our  West  Indian,  African,  and 
Australian  colonies,  as  the  quarters  from  which,  would  government  only  afford  every 
possible  facility,  (we  ask  and  wish  for  no  more,)  we  might,  ere  long,  draw  such  a  supply 
of  cotton  as  would,  to  say  the  least,  make  the  fluctuations  of  the  American  crop,  and  the 
varying  proportion  of  it  which  falls  to  our  share,  of  far  less  consequence  to  our  pros¬ 
perity  than  they  now  are. 

The  West  Indies,  as  we  have  already  seen,  used  to  send  us,  sixty  years  ago,  about 
40,000  bales,  or  three-fourths  of  our  then  supply.  But  the  enormous  profits  realized  on 


132 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


the  growth  of  sugar,  partly  caused,  and  much  prolonged,  by  our  prohibitory  duties  on  all 
competing  sugars,  directed  the  attention  of  the  colonists  exclusively  in  that  direction.  As 
in  the  analogous  case  of  protected  wheat  in  this  country,  other  cultivation  -was  gradually 
abandoned  in  favour  of  a  single  article  ;  the  cane  was  grown  in  soils  and  localities  utterly 
unfit  for  it,  and  into  which  nothing  but  the  protective  system  could  have  forced  it,  and 
cotton  was  soon  altogether  neglected.  Many  parts  of  the  West  Indies,  St.  Vincent  espe¬ 
cially,  which  are  worst  adapted  for  the  cane,  are  the  best  adapted  for  the  cotton  plant, 
which  flourishes  in  light  and  dry  soils,  and  especially  near  the  sea-coast.  The  artificial 
stimulus  which  our  mistaken  policy  so  long  applied  to  sugar  cultivation,  having  been 
withdrawn,  it  must  be  abandoned  in  all  unsuitable  localities,  and  would  be  well  replaced 
by  cotton.  What  price  would  be  required  to  repay  its  culture  there,  we  cannot  say ; 
but  considering  at  how  small  a  cost  it  might  be  placed  on  ship-board  in  all  these 
colonies,  and  how  large  a  portion  this  item  generally  forms  of  the  whole  expense 
of  production,  we  cannot  see  why  cotton  should  not  be  grown  in  the  Antilles  as 
cheaply  as  in  the  United  States,  if  only  the  negroes  can  be  relied  upon  for  steady  and 
continuous  labour  during  the  picking  season.  Now,  the  price  of  West  Indian  cotton 
ranges  higher  than  that  of  the  bulk  of  the  American  crop,  as  being  longer  in  staple.  Our 
belief  is,  that  were  the  attention  of  our  planters  once  energetically  directed  to  this  article, 
they  might  soon  send  us  a  regular  supply  of  100,000  bales  per  annum,  and  thus  find  a 
use  for  many  estates  that  must  otherwise  be  abandoned. 

The  experiment  of  cotton  growing  has  already  been  tried  with  success  in  one  of  our  most 
hopeful  African  colonies — Port  Natal.  We  have  already  received  above  100  bales  from 
this  colony — the  main  portion  of  which  consists  of  the  indigenous  cotton,  very  similar  to 
that  shipped  from  New  Orleans,  clean,  fine,  tenacious,  but  of  a  light  brown  colour.  On 
the  whole,  it  is  a  most  admirable  article  for  ordinary  purposes,  and  worth  in  the  market 
to-day  nearly  Id.  per  pound.  The  remainder  of  the  shipments  have  been  grown  from 
the  sea-island  seed,  and  are  of  excellent  quality.  The  cultivation  is  rapidly  increasing, 
and  about  500  bales  are  expected  next  year  from  the  colony.  A  society  has  been  formed 
for  promoting  emigration  thither,  and  a  ship  full  of  emigrants  sailed  a  few  days  since. 
Mr.  Byrne,  the  agent,  says  : 

“  Natal  is  situated  in  a  sunny  and  bright  region.  It  has  iron,  lead,  coal,  and  copper  in 
abundance,  and  with  British  industry  might  be  made  one  of  the  finest  and  wealthiest 
countries  on  the  globe.  The  country  is  admirably  calculated  for  the  growth  of  cotton, 
some  of  which  is  of  a  superior  description.  In  America,  cotton  was  chiefly  cultivated 
by  slave-labour  at  a  cost  of  about  35 l.  a  year  for  each  slave ;  whereas  at  Natal  the  labour 
of  the  Zooloos  could  be  purchased  at  a  cost  of  10s.  a  month  ;  and  Natal  too,  from  its 
proximity  to  the  sea,  was  most  advantageously  situated  for  carrying  on  the  trade  with 
England  in  competition  with  the  States.  I  would  not  advise  you  to  cultivate  sugar;  you 
will  be  able  to  get  that  article  perhaps  better  from  the  Mauritius,  where  you  will  find  a 
highly  remunerative  market  for  all  agricultural  produce.  I  intend  in  the  beginning  of  the 
year  to  send  out  a  screw  steamer  to  run  to  and  from  that  island  and  Natal.” 

From  Australia  we  have  as  yet  had  no  bulk  of  supply,  but  several  acres  are  under 
cultivation,  and  the  samples  sent  are  of  so  fine  a  quality  as  to  prove  beyond  question  the 
adaptation  of  the  soil  and  climate  for  the  production  of  as  good  an  article  as  any  grown 
in  America.  We  have  now  lying  before  us,  along  with  the  Port  Natal  cotton,  samples 
of  some  grown  from  sea-island  seed  at  Bolwarra,  in  New  South  Wales,  near  Maitland, 
about  80  miles  north  of  Sydney.  It  is  long,  fine,  and  silky. 

We  believe  that,  under  due  encouragement,  the  cultivation  of  cotton  m  these  quarters 
might  increase  in  a  steady  ratio  equal  to  our  increasing  demand.  Let  us  now  see,  on  a 
summary,  how  the  matter  stands. 

We  have  seen  that  of  the  American  cotton  crop,  our  annual  supply  during  the  last  five 
years  has  nearly  reached  1,120,000  bales,  and  that,  the  yearly  increase  of  the  crop  being  ba¬ 
lanced  by  the  yearly  increasing  demand  for  the  United  States  and  for  the  continent ,  there  is  little 
probability  of  our  ever  getting  more  than  this  on  an  average.  Let  us  suppose  that  a  due 
advance  in  price  raises  the  production  of  Brazil  to  what  it  had  attained  in  1830,  and  that 
of  India  nearly  to  what  it  was  in  1841,  and  that  Egypt  and  our  own  colonies  will  again 
send  us  some  appreciable  and  increasing  imports  : 


United  States 
Brazil 
India 
Egypt 

Our  colonies 


Bales  per  annum. 

say  1,200,000 
200,000 
250,000 
50,000 
50,000 


1,750,000 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


133 


This  would  allow  us  a  supply  of  33,500  bales  a  week,  the  apparent  consumption  of 
this  year.  For  any  addition  to  this  we  must  depend  on  the  increase  of  the  colonial  sup¬ 
ply,  or  on  that  which  a  still  higher  range  of  prices  will  enable  us  to  wring  out  of  India 
and  Brazil.  The  conclusion  from  the  whole  clearly  is,  that,  in  order  to  secure  such  a 
supply  of  the  raw  material  as  is  needed  to  meet  our  own  present  consumption,  we  must 
be  prepared  to  pay  a  decidedly  higher  range  of  prices  than  has  of  late  years  obtained  ■  that,  in  fact, 
the  average  prices  of  the  last  five  years  have  proved  quite  inadequate,  in  spite  of  large 
crops  in  America,  to  draw  to  this  country  sufficient  cotton  to  enable  our  actual  machinery 
to  work  full  time.  Higher  prices,  therefore,  must  obtain  in  future  ;  nor  should  spinners 
and  manufacturers  wish  it  otherwise;  for  experience  has  fully  shown  them  that  no  cir¬ 
cumstances  can  cause  them  so  great  or  so  certain  a  loss  as  an  inadequate  supply  of  the 
raw  material,  and  higher  prices  can  alone  avert  this  supreme  evil. 

So  much  as  to  the  probable  sufficiency  of  the  supply  of  the  raw  material  to  this  coun¬ 
try,  on  the  supposition  that  the  consumption  is  what  it  appears  to  be,  and  will  continue  what  it  is. 
But  are  we  justified  in  these  two  assumptions  1  Let  us  put  together  a  few  facts  which 
bear  upon  the  question. 

And,  first,  let  us  ascertain  what  the  actual  consumption  has  been  during  the  last  ten 
years.  We  know  this  with  accuracy  for  nine  years,  and  for  the  first  ten  months  of  this 
year.  During  these  ten  months,  the  deliveries  to  the  trade  have  reached  1,495,000  bales. 
But  we  know  that,  during  the  latter  portion  of  this  period,  manufacturersffiave  been  pur¬ 
chasing  far  more  than  they  need  for  actual  use,  and  that,  while  the  actual  quantity  worked 
up  has,  in  consequence  of  a  general  tendency  towards  the  production  of  finer  fabrics, 
been  decreasing  since  the  beginning  of  June,  the  purchases  of  cotton  have  been  increasing , 
till,  in  October,  they  reached  the  unprecedented  amount  of  217,000  bales.  A  lull  has 
now  taken  place,  and  we  believe  we  shall  not  be  far  wrong  in  assuming  that  the  pur¬ 
chases  of  the  trade,  during  the  last  nine  weeks  of  this  year,  will  not  exceed  205,000 
bales ;  and  that,  in  that  case,  they  will  hold  at  the  end  of  the  year  50,000  bales  more 
than  usual  in  stock.  This  would  give  the  consumption  of  the  year  at  1,650,000  bales. 
Our  own  impression  is,  that  this  estimate  is  rather  over  than  under  the  mark,  and  that 
spinners  hold  a  larger  stock  than  we  assume ;  but,  in  any  case  we  cannot  be  sufficiently 
wide  of  the  truth  to  affect  our  conclusions. 


Year. 

1840  . 

Weekly  consumption  of 
cotton  in  Great  Britain. 

24,868 

Year. 

1845  . 

• 

Weekly  consumption  of 
cotton  in  Great  Britain. 

30,120 

1841  . 

22,134 

1846  . 

• 

30,000 

1842  . 

22,949 

1847  . 

• 

21,270 

1843  . 

26,693 

1848  . 

• 

28,950 

1844  . 

27,439 

1849  . 

• 

31,730 

Now,  we  wish  our  readers  to  consider  this  table  carefully,  and  notice  the  extraordinary 
fluctuations  in  the  quantity  of  cotton  worked  up  each  year,  in  connection  with  the  facts  we 
are  about  to  state.  The  weekly  average  fell  nearly  3,000  bales  from  1840  to  1841;  then 
jumped  up  nearly  4,000  bales  from  1842  to  1843;  in  1845  and  1846,  it  remained  sta¬ 
tionary  at  a  high  figure ;  and  (passing  over  for  obvious  reasons  the  anomalous  year  of 
1847)  it  had  again  fallen  in  1848,  when  the  quantity  only  exceeded  that  of  eight  years 
previously  by  4,000  bales.  Yet ,  during  the  whole  of  this  period ,  the  machinery  engaged  in  the 
cotton  manufacture  was  constantly ,  though  not  regularly,  increasing ;  and,  except  for  a  short 
period  in  1842,  (and  in  1847,  which  last  year  we  have  thrown  out  of  our  calculation,) 
the  mills  were,  we  believe  we  are  correct  in  stating,  all  at  full  work.  Indeed,  “  short 
time”  is  attended  with  too  tremendous  a  loss  to  the  mill-owner  ever  to  be  resorted  to,  ex¬ 
cept  under  the  direst  pressure.  During  the  last  year,  we  see  the  consumption  has  in¬ 
creased  nearly  3,000  bales  a  week,  though  the  hours  of  labour  have  been  reduced,  by 
legislative  enactment,  from  eleven  to  ten  per  diem. 

All  these  considerations  point  clearly  to  the  conclusion,  that  our  consumption  of  the  raw 
material  is  not  a  fixed,  but  a  varying  quantity ,  and  is  affected  by  some  other  causes  than 
either  the  amount  of  machinery  in  operation,  or  the  hours  during  which  it  is  employed. 
What  this  cause  is,  and  the  extent  to  which  it  is  capable  of  operating,  we  can  be  at  no 
loss  to  discover. 

The  weight  of  raw  cotton  consumed  by  a  given  amount  of  machinery  varies  according 
to  the  nature  of  the  article  produced.  We  produce  in  England  fabrics  of  which  the  raw 
material  forms  two-thirds  of  the  value,  and  fabrics  of  which  it  forms  not  one-fiftieth  of  the 
value.  We  spin  yarns  of  which  the  raw  materials  cost  three-fourths ,  and  yarns  of  which 
it  costs  one-twentieth,  of  the  finished  price.  We  have  spindles  that  produce  two  pounds 
of  yarn  a  week,  and  spindles  that  do  not  produce  two  pounds  a  quarter.  But,  without 


134 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


going  to  these  extreme  varieties,  we  will  here  copy  a  statement  made  by  Messrs.  Du  Fay 
&  Company  in  their  monthly  circular,  the  accuracy  of  which  we  can  fully  confirm. 
They  say : 

840  spindles,  working  20’s  twist,  will  consume  1,340  lbs.  of  cotton 


840 

CC 

cc 

30’s  “ 

CC 

cc 

840 

CC 

840 

CC 

cc 

40’s  “ 

cc 

cc 

525 

CC 

840 

CC 

cc 

60’s  « 

cc 

cc 

224 

cc 

Now,  though  machinery  accustomed  to  produce  No.  20’s  cannot  produce  No.  60’s,  yet 
it  can,  without  material  change  or  difficulty,  produce  No.  30’s ;  and  machinery  adapted 
for  No.  30’s  can  change  to  No.  40’s,  and  so  on.  In  fact,  every  mill  has  a  range  of  at  least 
ten  numbers ,  by  varying  which  it  can  reduce  or  augment  its  consumption  of  cotton  easily 
from  25  to  50  per  cent.  The  same  may  be  said  of  weaving  mills.  In  many  mills,  looms 
may  be  seen  working  side  by  side  of  the  same  construction,  some  of  which  produce  60  lbs. 
a  week,  and  others  only  25  lbs.  We  could  mention  at  least  one  mill  where  the  amount 
of  raw  cotton  worked  up  weekly  varies,  according  to  the  fineness  of  the  article  produced, 
to  meet  the  fluctuating  demands  of  the  market,  from  30,000  lbs.  to  18,000  lbs.;  and  we 
find  in  the  Manchester  Guardian  of  last  Saturday  the  following  corroborative  statement: 

“  Some  idea  of  what  a  change  of  numbers  will  effect  may  be  gathered  from  the  fol¬ 
lowing  instances ;  the  names  of  the  firms  are  before  us  : 

*  Previous  weekly. 

Reduction.  consumption. 


No.  1 

.  .  .  .  .  10,000  lbs.  out  of  40,000  lbs. 

No.  2 

.  18,000  lbs.  —  60,000  lbs. 

No.  3 

.  25,000  lbs.  —  115,000  lbs. 

No.  4 

.  *  .  .  .  .  10,000  lbs.  —  30,000  lbs. 

No.  5 

.  .  .  .  10,000  lbs.  —  30,000  lbs. 

No.  6 

.  .  .  .  .  70  bis.  —  120  bales 

We  have  been  informed  by  another  very  extensive  spinner,  that  the  reduction  in  his  esta¬ 
blishment  is  more  than  40,000  lbs.  per  week.” 

It  is  not  easy  to  ascertain  the  extent  to  which  this  change  from  coarser  to,  finer  numbers 
is  actually  carried  at  any  particular  period.  We  know,  however,  that  it  does  go  on  to  a 
very  great  extent,  and  has  done  so,  perhaps  almost  unprecedentedly,  during  the  last  six 
months;  and,  when  we  consider  the  immense  proportion  of  the  weight  of  cotton  used  in 
England,  which  is  consumed  by  the  makers  of  heavy  cloths  and  coarse  yarns,  we  think 
we  may  safely  affirm  that  a  brisk  demand  for  printers,  shirtings,  and  India  yarns  on  the 
one  hand,  with  a  dull  demand  for  domestics,  long-cloths,  and  German  yarns  on  the  other, 
or  a  reversal  of  these  conditions  of  the  market,  if  continued  for  any  time,  will  make  a 
difference  of  at  least  25  per  cent,  in  the  weight  of  raw  cotton  consumed. 

Now,  an  advance  in  the  price  of  cotton  is  much  more  strongly  felt  in  the  coarser  yarns 
and  the  heavier  cloths  than  in  the  finer  ones.  An  advance,  such  as  has  taken  place  in 
the  last  twelve  months,  of  nearly  3d.  per  lb.  on  the  raw  material  of  a  stout  calico  which 
ordinarily  sells  in  the  finished  state,  at  8 d.  per  lb.  is  nearly  40  per  cent,  on  the  manufac¬ 
tured  article.  On  a  printing  cloth,  or  a  fine  shirting,  which  sells  at  12 d.  per  lb.  it 
is  only  25  per  cent. ;  and  on  the  piece  when  printed,  it  is  far  less  than  this — in  fact  a  mere 
trifle.  Or,  to  put  it  in  a  still  clearer  light,  an  advance  of  3d.  per  lb.  on  a  heavy  domestic 
calico,  will  compel  the  purchaser  to  pay  Ad.  where  he  formerly  only  paid  3d.  per  yard. 
The  same  3d.  per  lb.  will  be  15 d.  on  a  piece  of  printing  cloth  30  yards  in  length,  which, 
when  printed,  sells  in  the  shops  at  about  12s.  6 d. ;  in  other  words,  it  will  raise  the  price 
to  the  customer  from  5 d.  to  5t \d.  per  yard.  Now,  this  advance,  which  is  only  ten  per 
cent.,  is  not  sufficient  materially  or  rapidly  to  check  consumption ;  the  other  advance, 
which  is  40  per  cent.,  is.  It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  an  advance  in  the  price  of  the  raw 
material  will  check  the  demand  for,  and  consequently  the  production  of,  heavy  fabrics, 
much  sooner  and  more  decidedly  than  that  of  light  ones.  Accordingly,  as  the  following 
table  will  show,  the  range  of  prices  is  more  limited  in  the  former  than  in  the  latter ;  and 
never  keeps  pace  with,  or  nearly  so,  that  of  the  raw  material : — 


Price 

per  lb.  of  the  following 
1845.  1846. 

articles  in 
1847. 

November. 

1848. 

1849. 

Extreme 

ranee. 

d. 

d. 

d. 

d. 

d. 

d. 

Raw  cotton,  fair  uplands  . 

.  4| 

6 

P.X. 

4 

65 

21 

No.  20’s  water  twist,  good  seconds 

9 

7f 

61 

si 

21 

No.  40’s  mule  twist,  fair  seconds 

.  10 

91 

81 

7 

91 

3 

Stout  domestics,  181  lbs.  for  60  yds.  . 

.  9* 

91 

8 

81 

11 

Medium  domestics,  12  lbs.  for  60  yds. 

.  Ill 

HI 

91 

91 

10 

21 

Printing  cloths,  27  in.  72  reed,  5  lbs.  2  oz. 

.  13 

13  1 

121 

lOf 

141 

31 

It  is  obvious  from  this  table  that  while 

printing 

cloths 

have 

a  range 

of  price  even 

exceeding  that  of  raw  cotton,  and  find  no  difficulty,  where  there  is  a  reasonably  brisk 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


135 


trade,  in  following  its  fluctuations,  the  very  reverse  is  the  case  with  heavy  domestics,  into 
which  a  very  disproportionate  bulk  of  the  raw  material  is  worked  up,  when  compared 
with  the  machinery  employed.  For  these  last-mentioned  articles  there  is  a  very  extensive 
demand  at  low  prices;  but  with  any  material  advance,  this  demand  immediately  falls  off. 
A  great  proportion  of  them  is  exported  in  the  form  of  T  cloths  and  long-cloths  to  Por¬ 
tugal,  the  Mediterranean,  and  the  Levant,  as  long  as  prices  range  about  8 d.  a  lb. — when 
it  approaches  9 d.  this  export  is  almost  wholly  suspended,  and  the  manufacturers  who 
ordinarily  supply  it,  are  compelled  to  turn  their  attention  to  other  fabrics. 

Another  cause  contributes  to  this  change.  In  unprofitable  years,  such  as  always  occur 
when  the  raw  material  is  deficient  in  quantity  and  has  rapidly  become  enhanced  in 
value,  (as  in  the  present  year,)  every  manufacturer  is  of  course  anxious  both  to  minimize  his 
loss,  and  to  make  his  capital  go  as  far,  and  last  as  long,  as  he  can.  It  is  evident  that  this 
will  be  best  effected  by  turning  his  machinery  to  the  finest  range  of  numbers  it  is  fitted 
to  produce,  and  working  up  (say)  20,000  lbs.  instead  of  30,000  lbs.  of  cotton  weekly. 
Moreover,  in  years  when  trade  is  dull,  and  when  manufacturers,  from  inability  to  sell, 
are  compelled  to  accumulate  stocks,  the  same  inducement  to  produce  as  fine  fabrics  as 
possible  is  still  more  strongly  felt.  A  manufacturer  with  500  looms  on  light  printing 
cloths  can  afford  to  hold  a  stock  of  50,000  pieces,  or  four  months’  production,  but  a  manu¬ 
facturer  with  500  looms  must  have  a  much  larger  capital  who  can  afford  to  hold  25.000 
pieces,  or  four  months’  production  of  heavy  domestics.  In  round  numbers,  the  first  would 
have  12,000/.  and  the  second  18,000/.  locked  up. 

From  a  combination  of  all  the  above  considerations — from  observing  that  this  change 
from  coarser  to  finer  fabrics  has  often  occurred  in  the  past — from  knowing  how  easily, 
and  to  what  an  extent,  it  may  be  effected — and  from  perceiving  the  vast  inducement 
which  such  a  rise  in  the  value  of  cotton  as  has  recently  occurred  offers  to  this  change — 
we  feel  no  doubt  that  such  change  has,  during  the  last  six  months,  been  carried  to  a  far 
greater  extent  than  is  generally  estimated ;  and  we  question  whether  the  actual  con¬ 
sumption  is  at  this  moment  within  5000  bales  per  week  of  what  it  appeared  to  be  in  May 
last,  nor  within  3000  of  what  it  actually  was.  We  feel  convinced,  too,  that  with  our 
present  and  future  prospects  as  to  the  supply  and  price  of  the  raw  material,  as  developed 
in  the  early  part  of  this  paper,  our  manufacture  must  run  more  than  it  has  done  of  late 
years  upon  the  finer  yarns  and  fabrics,  and  consequently  that  our  consumption  of  cotton 
(till  the  supply  from  miscellaneous  quarters  has  been  greatly  augmented)  must  tend  to 
decrease  rather  than  otherwise,  notwithstanding  the  increase  and  improvement  of  ma¬ 
chinery  ;  that  (to  sum  up  the  whole)  those  speculators  who  refuse  to  believe  in  a  diminished 
consumption ,  and  those  manufacturers  who  ref  use  to  face  the  fact  of  an  inadequate  supply ,  will  find 
themselves  equally  in  error ,  and  in  danger.  We  particularly  call  the  attention  of  the  latter 
parties  to  the  consideration  that  the  better  or  worse  accounts  of  the  coming  American 
crop  in  no  degree  affect  our  argument.  We  have  assumed  it  at  2,350,000  bales — the 
highest  estimate  being  2,400,000  bales. 

There  are  yet  other  reflections  which  tend  to  corroborate  this  conclusion.  We  are  not 
without  indications  that  we  have  over-estimated  and  outrun  the  demand  for  the  manufac¬ 
tured  article  from  our  existing  markets,  as  much  as  we  have  outrun  the  supply  of  the  raw 
material  from  existing  sources.  It  is  probable  that  the  world’s  requirement  of  cotton 
goods  about  keeps  pace  with  the  world’s  growth  of  cotton  wool.  But  unfortunately  our 
machinery  has  increased  faster  than  either.  We  can  produce  more  calico  than  is  wanted, 
and  we  can  consume  more  cotton  than  is  grown.  We  think  that,  in  endeavouring 
to  ascertain  this,  we  may  safely  take  the  data  of  the  last  five  years  as  our  basis,  since, 
though  the  demand  for  our  manufactures  has  in  that  period  been  checked  by  a  tremen¬ 
dous  political  and  commercial  convulsion,  yet  on  the  other  hand  it  has  been  increased 
during  a  portion  of  that  time  by  an  unexampled  expenditure  among  the  working  classes, 
(in  the  form  of  wages  to  railway  labourers  and  others,)  and  the  supply  has  been  checked 
by  one  of  the  most  deficient  cotton  crops  known  for  many  years. 

We  have  constructed  the  following  tables  with  the  greatest  care,  and  from  the  best  in¬ 
formation  we  can  obtain.  We  believe  they  will  be  found  essentially  correct : — 


No.  20 ’s  Water  twist. 


Price  of  cotton 

Cost  of  workman¬ 

Profit. 

Loss. 

per  lb. 

ship  and  waste. 

Total  cost. 

Selling  price. 

d. 

d. 

d. 

d. 

d. 

d. 

1845 

4-25 

3 

7-25 

9 

• 

1-75  . 

— 

1846 

6 

3-25  . 

925 

8-25 

• 

• 

1 

1847 

4-7 

31  . 

7-8 

7-8 

• 

1  • 

— 

1848 

3-6 

3 

6-6 

6-25 

• 

• 

0-35 

1849 

6-25 

3-20  . 

9-45 

8-45 

• 

1  • 

1 

136 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


1845 

Price  of  cotton. 

d. 

.  4-5 

No. 

Cost  of  workman¬ 
ship  and  waste. 

d. 

4 

40's  Mule  twist. 

Total  cost.  Selling  price. 

d.  d. 

8-5  .  10 

Profit. 

d. 

1-5 

Loss. 

d. 

1846 

6 

4-2  . 

10-2 

9-25 

.  - 

0-95 

1847 

5 

4-1  . 

9-1 

8-25 

.  - 

0-85 

1848 

4 

4 

8 

7 

.  - 

1 

1849 

6-5 

4-2  . 

10-7 

9-25 

.  - 

1-45 

The  prices  here  given 

are  those  of  November  in  each  year,  both  in  this  and  the  subse 

tent  tables. 

Price  of  cotton 
per  lb. 
d. 

1845  .  3-75 

Stout  Domestics. 

Workmanship 

and  waste.  Total  cost. 

d.  d. 

4  .  7-75 

Selling  price. 
d. 

9-25 

Profit. 

d. 

1-5 

• 

Loss. 

d. 

1840 

5-6 

4-2  . 

9-8 

9-36 

.  - 

• 

0-5 

1847 

4-25 

4 

8-25 

9-25 

1 

• 

— 

1848 

3-25 

3-35  . 

7-1 

8 

0-9 

• 

— 

1849 

5-7 

4 

9-8 

8-75 

.  — 

• 

1-05 

1845 

Price  of  cotton 
per  lb. 
d. 

4-25 

Medium  Domestics. 

Workmanship 

and  waste.  Total  cost. 

d.  d. 

5-50  .  9-75 

Selling  price. 
d. 

11-75 

Profit. 

d. 

2 

Loss. 

d. 

1846 

6 

5-75  . 

11-75 

11-25 

.  — 

0-5 

1847 

4-75 

5-25  . 

10 

9-75 

.  — 

0-25 

1848 

3-65 

5 

8-65 

9-25 

0-6 

— 

1849 

6-45 

5-5  . 

11-75 

10 

.  — 

1-75 

In  estimating  the  second  column  in  all  these  tables,  we  have  taken  into  account  both 
the  economy,  in  the  cost  of  workmanship,  where  there  has  been  any,  and  also  the  varia¬ 
tion  in  the  waste  owing  to  the  varying  price  of  cotton,  which  will  account  for  the  slight 
fluctuations  observable. 


Printing  Cloths. 


1845 

Price  of 
cotton. 

d. 

5 

Workmanship 
and  waste. 

d. 

6-85  . 

Total  cost. 

d. 

11-85 

Selling  price. 
d. 

13 

Profit. 

d. 

1-15  . 

Loss. 

d. 

1846 

6-5 

7 

13-5 

13-25 

— 

0-25 

1847 

5-5 

6-75  . 

12-25 

.  12-25 

— 

— 

1848 

4-5 

6-5  . 

11 

10-75 

— 

0-25 

1S49 

6-25 

6-75  . 

13-5 

14-25 

0-75  . 

— 

It  is  important  to  observe  that  the  experience  of  isolated  individuals  will  not  invalidate 
the  conclusions  of  these  tables,  which  show  the  margin  between  the  raw  material  and 
the  manufactured  article  at  the  prices  of  the  day.  These  prices  vary  much  during  the  year  ; 
and  a  manufacturer  who  has  laid  in  his  cotton  at  the  cheapest  time,  and  made  his  con¬ 
tracts  of  sale  at  the  dearest,  may  realize  a  profit,  though  the  general  trade  incurs  a  loss. 
The  only  case  in  which  these  tables  may  lead  to  an  incorrect  conclusion  is,  where  the 
relative  prices  in  November  are  not  fair  representatives  of  the  average  prices  of  the  year. 
In  the  year  1847  this  was  the  case,  the  margin  between  cotton  and  yarn,  or  cotton  and 
cloth,  being  much  greater  in  November  than  during  the  chief  part  of  the  year,  and  the  loss 
consequently  far  less.  The  average  of  that  year  left  a  large  loss  on  all  articles. 

From  these  tables  it  would  appear — as  indeed  has  been  well  known  to  all  connected 
with  the  trade — that  our  cotton-spinners  and  manufacturers  on  an  average,  and  with  a 
few  exceptions,  have  been  carrying  on  their  works  to  a  loss,  ever  since  1845.  This  has 
occurred  during  a  period  in  which  the  price  of  the  raw  material  has  fluctuated  upwards 
and  downwards  at  least  40  per  cent.  Now  can  it  be  supposed  that  they  would  have  en¬ 
countered  the  impossibility,  which  it  is  evident  they  have  encountered,  of  obtaining 
remunerating  prices,  if  they  had  not  produced  more  than  our  actual  markets  can,  on  an 
average  of  years,  take  off"  1 

At  the  beginning  of  this  year,  great  expectations  were  entertained  of  our  home  demand. 
It  was  argued,  and  with  good  reason,  that  we  never  yet  had  a  year  of  general  employ¬ 
ment  and  low  prices  of  provisions  combined,  which  was  not  also  a  year  of  very  large 
domestic  consumption  of  manufactured  fabrics.  This  year  labour  has  been  in  very  brisk 
request,  and  food  has  never  been  so  cheap  and  plentiful  since  1830.  Yet  our  expectations 


THE  HARMONY  OP  INTERESTS. 


137 


from  these  facts  have  not  been  fully  answered.  The  sellers  of  printing  cloths  and  me¬ 
dium  shirtings  report  that  their  home  demand  has,  on  the  whole,  been  good ;  the  sellers 
of  domestics  report,  on  the  contrary,  a  decidedly  dull  business,  worse  than  that  of  last 
year  5  but  we  believe  all  agree  that  the  anticipations  with  which  they  began  the  year 
have  by  no  means  been  realized.  We  suspect  the  cause  to  be  this  : — The  depreciation 
in  railway  property,  the  effects  of  the  Irish  famine,  and  the  commercial  crash  in  1847, 
have  impoverished  all  classes  of  the  community  to  a  much  greater  extent  than  has  been 
allowed  for  in  the  calculations  of  our  tradesmen.  We  question  whether  “the  power  of 
purchase,”  on  the  part  of  the  British  community,  is  nearly  equal  to  what  it  was  in  1845. 
One  fact  alone  may  enable  us  to  guess  at  the  degree  to  which  its  aggregate  means  of  ex¬ 
penditure  must  have  been  reduced.  In  round  numbers,  the  sum  actually  expended  in  rail¬ 
ways  is  210  millions:  their  actual  value  at  the  prices  of  the  day  does  not  exceed  100 
millions ;  and  many  of  them  pay  little  or  no  dividend. 

Let  us  now  sum  up  the  conclusions  which  our  tables  have  solved  : — 

1.  Our  supply  of  cotton  has  materially  fallen  off  during  the  last  few  years,  and  will  not 
increase  except  under  the  stimulus  of  much  higher  prices  than  have  (till  the  last  few 
months)  obtained. 

2.  That  under  such  ranges  of  prices  our  consumption  will  not  maintain  its  present  ap¬ 
parent  rate,  (or  say  32,000  bales  a  week,)  whatever  be  the  increase  or  improvement  of 
machinery. 

3.  That,  except  under  the  stimulus  of  low  prices,  our  existing  markets  cannot  take  off 
as  much  as  our  machinery  can  produce. 

4.  That  the  practical  deductions  pointed  to  by  these  facts  are  two — -first,  a  permanent 
tendency  towards  the  production  of  finer  fabrics;  and  secondly,  a  check  to  the  increase 
of  mills  and  machinery — of  our  producing  power — that  is,  till  the  increased  supply  of  the 
raw  material  on  the  one  hand,  and  an  increased  consumption  of  the  manufactured  pro¬ 
duct  on  the  other,  shall  once  more  have  restored  the  balance.” 

It  is  here  stated  that  the  consumption  of  the  last  five  years  is  greater  by 
3600  bales  per  week  than  in  the  previous  five,  but  it  is  not  shown  whence 
this  cotton  came.  The  whole  quantity  retained  for  consumption  in  the 
second  period  is  less  by  269,000  bales  than  in  the  first,  and  yet  the  consump¬ 
tion  is  said  to  have  been  greater  by  187,000  per  annum,  or  a  total  quantity 
of  935,000  bales,  which  added  to  the  deficiency  in  the  quantity  retained, 
would  make  1,200,000  bales.  The  stock  of  American  on  hand  at  the  close 
of  1849  was  less  by  400,000  bales,  and  that  of  other  descriptions  may  have 
been  reduced  250,000 ;  but  even  this  leaves  550,000  to  be  accounted  for. 
It  is  scarcely  possible  to  examine  the  figures  given  in  this  paper  without 
arriving  at  the  conclusion  that  the  consumption  is  exaggerated. 

Admitting,  however,  all  that  is  claimed,  I  will  now  proceed  to  show  how  large 
a  portion  of  this  increase  has  resulted  from  the  existence  of  protection  elsewhere. 
It  has  been  shown*  that  our  import  of  cotton  goods  in  two  years,  ending  June 
30,  1843,  the  period  of  almost  free  trade ,  was  very  small,  the  average  having 
been  but  $7,184,000.  If,  now,  to  this  we  add  the  increased  import  of  the 
year  ending  June,  1844,  we  obtain  an  average  of  about  .  $9,000,000 

From  June,  1844,  to  June,  1849,  the  average  was  about  .  16,000,000 

During  one-half  of  this  period  the  tariff  of  1842  was  in  existence,  and  during 
more  than  half  of  the  balance,  that  of  1846  was  almost  altogether  inopera¬ 
tive — and  for  the  balance  of  the  time  the  duty  has  been  thirty  per  cent. 
Nevertheless,  the  amount  imported f  has  been  almost  double,  and  the  excess 
is  not  less  than  three-fourths  of  a  pound  per  head,  making  an  average  of 
about  35,000  bales  per  annum. 

*  Page  394,  ante. 

1  By  reference  to  the  tables  in  Chapters  II.  and  III.  it  will  be  seen  that  much  of  these 
imports  in  the  last  two  years  was  obtained  in  exchange  for  certificates  of  debt,  and  there¬ 
fore  deducted  from  the  amount  of  import  as  there  given,  the  object  in  constructing  those 
tables  having  been  that  of  showing  what  was  the  power  of  consumption  resulting  from  the 
power  of  production,  not  that  which  resulted  from  the  impoverishing  system  of  buying  goods 
on  credit. 


138 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


The  average  import  of  yarn  into  the  other  protected  country,  the  Zoll-verein , 
from  1837  to  1841,  was  351,000  quintals.  That  of  1843  was  475,000,  and 
the  average  from  1840  to  1844  was  probably  about  440,000.  In  1845  it 
was  574,000.  Taking  that  as  the  average  from  1845  to  1849,  as  it  appears 
to  have  been,*  we  have  an  excess  of  134,000  cwts.  of  yarn,  equal  to  40,000 
bales  of  raw  cotton. 

The  two  together  make  75,000,  which,  being  deducted  from  the  excess  con¬ 
sumption  alleged  to  have  taken  place,  leave  112,000,  and  the  account  will 
now  stand  thus  .  .  .  1840-44  annual  average  1,290,000 

1845-49  “  “  1,402,000 

showing  an  increase  of  little  more  than  eight  per  cent.,  while  the  low  prices 
of  the  second  period  have  been  lower  than  those  of  the  first  by  twenty- 
jive  per  cent.  It  is  obvious  that  the  increase,  trivial  as  it  has  been, 
among  the  unprotected  consumers ,  has  been  obtained  at  the  cost  of  the 
planter,  and  that  the  amount  collected  from  the  population  of  England 
and  that  of  the  world  at  large  for  his  use,  was  greatly  less  in  the  second 
period  than  in  the  first.  The  consumption  of  American  cotton  in  Great  Britain, 
in  the  present  year,  is  estimated  at  only  about  1,100,000  bales,  being 
little  more  than  it  was  ten  years  since,  when  the  average  price  was  as 
high  as  at  present.  It  is  clear  from  this  the  market  of  England  cannot  be 
made  to  grow  in  such  manner  as  to  keep  pace  with  our  production..  Why  it 
cannot,  and  will  not,  may,  I  think,  readily  be  shown,  by  an  examination  of 
the  operations  of  the  past  year,  in  which  there  has  existed  no  railroad  specu¬ 
lation,  no  famine,  no  potato-rot,  and  in  which,  on  the  contrary,  every  thing 
has  tended  to  produce  a  perfect  realization  of  the  anticipations  of  the  most 
sanguine  friend  of  the  existing  system. 

The  total  value  of  exports  of  the  kingdom  for  the  ten  months 
ending  November  5,  1849,  was  ......  £49,400,000 

The  total  of  grain,  and  flour  and  meal  as  grain,  imported  in 
the  same  period,  was  10,300,000  quarters,  which,  at  an  average 
of  36s.  per  quarter,  would  amount  to  about  £18,500,000,  and 
with  43,000  tons  of  potatoes,  to  about  ....  18,600,000 

The  number  of  oxen,  bulls,  cows,  sheep,  &c.,  144,000,  say  150,000 

Of  bacon,  beef,  pork,  hams,  butter,  cheese,  and  lard, 

1,500,000  cwts.,  which  at  30s.  would  be  ...  2,250,000 


Grand  total  of  commodities  now  imported,  but  with 
which  the  people  of  the  United  Kingdom  supplied 
themselves  almost  entirely  only  a  few  years  since  .  £21,000,000 

Deducting  these,  the  amount  of  exports  remains  .  .  28,400,000 


The  exports  of  cotton  manufactures  and  yarn  (£5,833,000) 
amounted  to  £22,550,000,  and  if  we  estimate  the  cotton  re¬ 
quired  for  their  production  at  three-eighths  of  this  amount,  we 
obtain  as  its  value 

The  wool  imported  to  be  manufactured  and  exported  amount- 


8,500,000 


*  The  export  of  yarn  to  the  ports  through  which  Germany  is  supplied,  in  four  of  those 
years  was  as  follows  : — 


Belgium,  lbs. 
Holland  “ 

Hanse  Towns,  &c. 

Total  lbs. 


1845. 

3,917,000 

21,556,000 

40,315,000 


1846. 

5,359,000 

24,662,000 

45,041,000 


1847. 

3,520,000 

16,206,000 

36,123,000 


1848. 

3,168,000 

18,877,000 

32,910,000 


64,788,000  75,062,000  55,849,000  54,955,000 


i 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


139 


ed  to  nearly  60,000,000  of  pounds,  which,  at  a  shilling  a  pound, 

would  he  ....  .  3,000,000 

The  flax  imported  was  1,553,000  cwts.,  and  the  average 
price  being  32s.,  the  amount  is  .  .  .  .  .  .  2,500,000 

If  we  now  add  for  the  hides,  timber,  copper  ores,  Swedish 
iron,  block-tin,  brimstone,  indigo  and  other  dye-stufls,  silk, 
sugar,  gold,  silver,  quicksilver,  and  other  foreign  materials 
included  in  this  vast  amount  of  manufactures  exported  only  .  2,500,000 

We  obtain  as  the  total  of  foreign  raw  materials  exported  .  .  £16,500,000 
leaving  as  the  value  of  the  products  of  the  labour  and  land 
of  England  exported  in  ten  months  .....  £11,900,000 
or  per  annum  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  £14,280,000 

being  at  the  rate  of  9/6  =  $2*28  per  head,  to  be  applied  to  the  purchase  of 
cotton,  sugar,  coffee,  tea,  silks,  dying  materials,  timber,  and  all  other  articles 
of  necessity  or  of  luxury  required  for  domestic  consumption,  grain,  potatoes, 
live  animals,  and  cured  provisions  alone  excepted. 

If  the  reader  will  now  compare  this  statement  with  those  of  other  years 
before  given,*  he  will,  I  think,  have  no  difficulty  in  satisfying  himself  that 
u  the  power  of  purchase”  of  the  people  of  Great  Britain  is  in  a  state  of  rapid 
diminution,  and  that  to  that  fact  is  due  the  distress  existing  among  her 
people. 

It  will  be  said,  however,  that  she  does  consume  much  more  than  this 
amount.  She  does,  and  how  she  is  enabled  to  do  it,  I  propose  now  to  show. 
Thus  far,  however,  the  accounts  of  the  various  periods  are  made  out  precisely 
alike,  and  answer  for  the  purpose  of  comparing  the  present  with  the  past. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  prices  of  all  the  articles  I  have  particularized 
would  be  low  even  here.  Of  the  grain,  nearly  three-fourths  are  wheat  or  wheat 
flour,  and  the  price  is  but  4s.  or  88  cents  per  bushel,  delivered  in  England. 
The  bacon,  beef,  pork,  lard,  and  butter  are  at  64  cents  per  pound,  also 
delivered  in  England.  The  flax  is  at  seven  cents  per  pound.  The  wool  is  at 
a  shilling,  and  the  cotton  supposed  to  be  about  5 \d.  per  pound.  These  are 
prices  at  which  we  should  not  desire  to  deliver  the  same  commodities  at  New 
York  or  Philadelphia,  on  their  way  to  Liverpool.  Nevertheless,  Great  Britain 
obtains  all  these,  and  immense  quantities  of  other  commodities  in  addi¬ 
tion,  and  yet  brings  us  largely  in  debt  on  the  year's  business.  She  uses 
sugar  valued  at  £5,000,000.  Large  quantities  of  cotton,  silk,  hemp,  and 
hides,  are  consumed  at  home.  Her  consumption  of  tea  is  40  millions  of 
pounds.  Of  timber  she  consumes  a  million  of  loads,  and  the  price  of  Canada 
red  pine  is  £3  per  load.  How  does  she  acquire  the  power  to  do  all  these 
things  ? 

The  cotton  that  comes  from  Bombay,  as  stated  above,  frequently  yields  to 
the  shipper  at  that  place  but  a  penny  per  pound,  which  will  not  defray  the 
cost  of  transportation  from  the  place  of  production  to  the  place  of  shipment, 
leaving  nothing  whatever  for  the  cost  of  production,  and  yet  the  poor  pro¬ 
ducer  pays  to  the  Company  heavy  taxes  for  the  use  of  that  land,  which  taxes 
are  remitted  to  England  for  the  payment  of  expenses,  pensions,  dividends,  &c. 

The  sugar  from  the  Mauritius  sells  for  22s.  per  cwt.,  or  2§ d.  per  pound, 
a  price  that  cannot  yield  the  shipper  much,  if  any  thing,  more  than  a  penny 
per  pound.  The  producer  receives  almost  nothing.  It  was  shown  by  the 
accounts  of  several  large  houses,  owners  of  real  estate  in  that  island,  that  for 
years  the  estates  received  nothing  whatever.  So  is  it  with  Canada,  and  her 
lumber. 


*  See  page  15. 


140 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


The  charges  upon  all  commodities  that  pass  into  England  are  immense^ 
and  they  cannot  be  otherwise.  The  producers  are  few,  and  the  consumers 
are  many,  and  the  latter  must  be  supported  by  the  former.  Wherever  four 
families  must  eat  and  but  one  raises  food,  the  share  that  falls  to  the  former 
must  be  small,  and  therefore  it  is  that  the  farmers  and  planters  of  the  world 

are  kept  so  poor.  , 

With  every  step  downward  the  operation  of  the  system  tends  to  become 

more  severe.  A  penny  taken  out  of  a  pound  of  cotton  that  sells  for  a  shil¬ 
ling,  is  a  trifle,  but  a  penny  out  of  3 d.  falls  heavily.  When  cotton  is  high, 
it  sells  rapidly  and  the  charges  are  few.  When  the  crop  is  large  and  it  sells 
slowly,  the  charges  are  numerous.  So  is  it  with  sugar,  tobacco,  rice,  and  all 
other  of  the  products  of  the  earth.  With  the  diminishing  power  of  consump¬ 
tion  prices  universally  have  diminished,  while  the  necessity  for  advances, 
storage,  &c.,  has  increased,  giving  to  the  exchanger  power  to  take  for  himself 
not  only  a  larger  quantity ,  but  a  larger  proportion  than  before.  Hence 
it  is  that  Great  Britain  is  enabled  to  consume  so  much  while  producing 

so  little.  , 

Diminish  her  power  of  taxing  the  planters  and  farmers  of  the  world,  and 

it  will  speedily  be  seen  that  the  power  of  consumption  that  even  now  exists 
results  from  the  ability  to  throw  upon  others  the  burden  that  she  should  bear 
alone.  The  Economist ,  a  journal  not  to  be  suspected  of  exaggerating  the 
evils  of  the  present  state  of  things,  expresses  its  belief  that  “  the  power  of 
purchase”  on  the  part  of  the  British  community  is  not  nearly  equal  to  what 
it  was  in  1845.*  That  such  is  the  case  there  can  be  no  doubt,  and  that  the 


*  This  same  journal  but  a  fortnight  before  assured  its  readers  that  “ever  since  there  had 
been  a  reduction  of  the  duties  of  the  sliding  scale,  and  a  probability  that  the  coin  laws 
would  be  abolished,  the  farmers  have  steadily  improved  their  cultivation  and  produced 
more.”  If  production  has  increased,  how  is  it  that  the  power  of  purchase  has  decreased  ? 
If  the  power  of  purchase  has  decreased,  how  are  the  people  enabled  to  purchase  all 
this  supposed  increased  domestic  product,  and  the  enormous  quantity  that  is  imported  ? 
The  power  of  consumption  and  that  of  production  go  hand  in  hand  with  each  other,  and 
if  “  the  power  of  purchase”  has  diminished,  as  it  unquestionably  has,  it  is  because  the 
power  of  producing  things  with  which  to  purchase  has  declined. 

Much  of  the  diminution  in  the  “  power  of  purchase”  is  ascribed  to  the  railroad  specu¬ 
lation,  but  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  that  should  have  produced  any  such  effect.  Under  it 
much  property  changed  hands,  but  the  actual  expenditure  was  merely  the  cost  of  grading 
and  laying  the  roads,  and  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  labour  that  has  been  saved  by 
means  of  the  use  of  the  roads  has  been  quite  equal  to  the  amount  expended.  The  price 
paid  for  land,  and  the  fees  to  parliamentary  agents,  &c.,  were  merely  transfers  from  the 
pocket  of  one  man  to  that  of  another,  and  could  not  have  impaired  the  “power  of  pur¬ 
chase.”  The  railroad  speculation  produced  the  roads,  and  existing  as  they  do,  they  tend 
to  increase  the  power  of  production  and  consumption.  It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  look 
elsewhere  for  the  causes  of  the  state  of  things  now  existing  in  England.  They  are  to  be 
found  in  the  necessity  for  competing  with  the  lowest  priced  and  most  worthless  labour  of 
the  world.  The  results  of  that  necessity  are  exhibited  in  the  following  facts,  which  will 
not  only  account  for  the  present  diminution  in  “  the  power  of  purchase,”  but  relieve  us 
from  difficulty  in  accounting  for  future  diminutions. 

“  It  appears  from  a  parliamentary  return,  that  the  holders  of  farms,  who  in  1845  were 
310,000  over  the  Emerald  Isle,  have  in  1848  sunk  to  108,000.  Two  hundred  and  two 
thousand  cultivators  of  land  have  disappeared  in  three  years,  and  with  them  at  least  hall 
of  the  capital  by  means  of  which  the  land  was  made  to  produce  any  thing.” — Blackwood  s 
Magazine ,  December ,  1849.  The  bank-note  circulation  of  Ireland,  which  in  August,  184G, 
was  £7,500,000,  had  fallen  in  August,  1849,  to  £3,833,000. — Ibid.  The  poor  rate  of 
Ireland,  which  in  1846  was  £200,000,  has  risen  to  £1,900,000.  That  of  Scotland  has 
risen  in  three  years  from  £185,000  to  £560,000.  In  Glasgow,  anterior  to  1846,  it  was 
£30,000.  In  1848-9,  it  was  £200,000.  The  number  of  paupers  in  1845-6,  was  7,454. 
In  1847-8,  51,852.  The  railroad  tolls  of  1845  averaged  £2,640  per  mile.  In  1849, 
£1,780. — Ibid. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


141 


power  of  purchase  must  continue  to  diminish  with  further  diminution  in  the 
power  of  production,  is  quite  certain. 

We  see  that,  notwithstanding  low  prices  for  grain,  the  imports  are  im¬ 
mense,  averaging  more  than  nine  millions  of  our  bushels  per  month.  Will 
this  continue  ?  In  answer,  the  domestic  crop  of  this  year  has  not  failed,  nor 
have  there  been  any  reasons  why  the  export  from  the  grain-producing  coun¬ 
tries  of  the  world  should  be  larger  than  usual.  We  are  assured  that  Russia 
can  supply  fifty  millions  of  quarters  annually,  and  that  much  of  it  is  now 
wasted  for  want  of  a  market.  She  has  now  a  market,  and  so  long  as  a  bushel 
of  wheat  will  yield  to  the  producer  the  price  of  a  yard  of  cotton  cloth ,  he  will 
accept  even  that  rather  than  waste  it.  We  are  assured  that  he  cannot  afford  to 
raise  it  at  any  such  price,  but  what  else  can  he  do  ?  Deprived  of  other  em¬ 
ployment  for  his  time,  lie  must  raise  food  for  himself,  and  with  the  sur¬ 
plus  purchase  clothing,  even  if  he  have  to  starve  himself  to  obtain  the  little 
that  he  wears.  The  error  of  English  writers  consists  in  assuming  that  there 
is  such  a  thing  as  a  necessary  price.  The  poor  labourer  in  India,  we  are 
assured  by  this  same  writer,  obtains  for  his  cotton  no  more  than  the  mere  rent 
of  his  land ,  leaving  nothing  for  his  labour,  yet  he  still  cultivates  cotton  to 
exchange  for  the  yard  of  cloth  with  which  he  covers  his  loins. 

The  people  of  England  first  inflicted  upon  themselves  a  necessity  for  com¬ 
peting  with  the  u  cheap”  labour  of  India  in  the  manufacture  of  cottons. 
That  produced  a  necessity  for  competition  with  the  “  cheap”  labour  of  Russia 
in  the  production  of  food,  the  consequences  of  which  are  thus  described  in 
the  recent  quarterly  report  of  the  Registrar-general : — “  The  population  of 
England  has  suffered ,  died,  and  decreased ,  during  the  quarter ,  to  a  degree  of 
which  there  is  no  example  in  the  present  century.”  Emigration  has  gone  on 
so  rapidly,  and  so  much  in  advance  of  immigration,  that  “  England  has  now 
less  inhabitants  by  several  thousand  than  were  within  her  shores  at  mid¬ 
summer.” 

The  system  tends  to  increase  man’s  necessities  and  to  diminish  his  power.  It 
is  here  shown  how  enormous  was  the  difference  in  the  prices  of  cotton  in  the  two 
periods,  and  we  may  now  look  to  see  whether  the  price  of  cloth  and  iron  changed 
therewith.  From  1840  to  1844,  the  average  price  of  a  piece  of  gray  cotton 
cloth  was  6s.  Id.)  from  1845  to  1849,  it  was  above  6s.  Here  is  a  reduction  of 
ten  per  cent,  to  set  off  against  changes  of  40  per  cent.  The  average  price  of 
iron  in  1845,  1846,  and  1847,  was  50  per  cent,  higher  than  that  of  the 
four  previous  years ;  and  thus,  while  the  cotton  was  lower  than  before,  the 
thing  which,  of  all  others,  the  producer  of  cotton  desires  to  use,  was  vastly 
higher.  He  was  steadily  giving  more  and  receiving  less,  and  it  is  no  matter 
of  surprise  that  his  power  of  production  diminished  and  his  condition  steadily 
deteriorated. 

To  this  it  is  due  that  the  power  to  pay  for  cotton  cloth  on  the  part  of  the 
people  subjected  to  the  system  is  steadily  diminishing,  and  that  “  the  con¬ 
sumption  cannot  be  maintained.”  Nothing,  “  we  are  assured,  but  the  stimu¬ 
lus  of  low  prices”  will  enable  u  the  existing  markets”  to  take  off  the  pro¬ 
duce  of  the  machinery  of  England )  and,  to  secure  a  supply  at  low  prices, 
every  English  writer  on  the  subject  is  looking  for  what  is  called  “  cheap  la¬ 
bour.”  That  of  the  Zooloos  may  be  had  at  10s.  per  month,  and  Natal  is 
advantageously  situated  for  maintaining  “competition  with  the  States.” 

The  “  practical  deduction  pointed  to  by  these  facts,”  and  that  which  most 
interests  the  planter,  is  that  there  must  be  “  a  check  to  the  increase  of  mills 
and  machinery,”  until  “  the  increased  supply  of  the  raw  material”  shall 
bring  down  the  price  of  cotton  to  the  level  of  the  powers  of  the  consumers, 
or  until  “  the  power  of  purchase”  shall  rise  to  a  level  with  the  existing  prices. 
That  the  latter,  among  the  unprotected  communities  of  the  world,  has 


142 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


steadily  declined,  during  a  long  series  of  years,  is  obvious,  and  there  exists 
no  reason  for  supposing  that  the  future  will  be  different  from  the  past.  The 
only  remaining  mode  of  “  restoring  the  balance”  is  that  of  reducing  cotton 
to  the  level  of  a  constantly  diminishing  “power  of  purchase.” 

That  it  will  be  so  diminished,  unless  the  planters  can  determine  to  help 
themselves,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  The  men  who  have  heretofore  raised 
sugar  and  coffee  are  now  about  to  turn  their  attention  to  cotton,  as  likely 
to  be  more  profitable  than  either.  The  people  of  Jamaica  have  been  forced 
to  abandon  coffee,  and  sugar  cannot,  as  their  journals  inform  us,  be  any  longer 
profitably  cultivated.  Why  it  cannot,  the  Economist  informs  us. 

The  same  number,  from  which  the  above  long  extract  is  made,  informs  us 
that  the  sugar  market  is  “  drooping,”  the  “  expectation  of  a  large  additional 
consumption  not  having  been  realized.”  The  consequence  is  seen  in  the  fact, 
that  the  sugar  of  the  distant  Isle  of  France  is  quoted  at  22s.  5 d.  per  cwt., 
being  two  and  two-fifth  pence  per  pound,  yielding  to  the  shipper,  after  pay¬ 
ing  freight  and  charges,  about  as  much  as  the  cotton  above  stated  to  have 
been  shipped  from  Bombay,  to  wit,  one  penny,  and  to  the  producer,  on  his 
plantation,  but  little  more  than  is  necessary  to  pay  his  rent.  Under  such 
circumstances,  the  labour  of  the  people  of  the  Mauritius  becomes  “  cheaper,” 
and  may  ultimately  become  as  “  cheap”  as  that  of  the  Zooloos. 

Thus  is  it  everywhere.  The  late  cotton  planter  of  Alabama  is  trying 
sugar,  and  the  sugar  planter  of  Jamaica  is  determined  to  try  cotton,  under 
an  impression  that  “  a  sufficient  supply  is  not  yet  raised  to  meet  the  demand 
which  exists  for  the  article.”  The  real  cause  of  difficulty  is,  that  the  cotton 
planter  and  his  neighbours  are  unable  to  obtain  one-third  as  much  sugar  as 
they  would  desire  to  consume,  and  the  sugar  planter  is  unable  to  obtain  one- 
third  as  much  cloth  as  he  would  desire  to  consume,  because  the  cost  of  both  in 
labour  is  so  greatly  enhanced  by  the  necessity  for  making  their  exchanges  in 
the  distant  market  of  England.  Were  both  determined  to  make  a  market 
on  the  land  for  the  products  of  the  land,  each  would  obtain  in  return  for  the 
same  quantity  of  labour  thrice  as  much  as  now ;  whereas,  if  they  continue 
to  maintain  the  monopoly  system  of  England,  they  must  obtain  even  less 
than  now,  little  as  it  is.  Among  the  planters  of  the  world,  there  is  perfect 
harmony  of  interests,  and  those  of  all  are  to  be  promoted  by  the  adoption  of 
a  system  that  shall  tend  to  raise  the  value  of  labour,  thereby  enabling  the 
man  of  Ireland,  who  now  consumes  one  pound  of  cotton,  to  become  the  man 
of  America,  consuming  a  dozen  or  twenty  pounds. 

The  object  of  every  effort  at  maintaining  in  existence  this  great  monopoly 
of  machinery  is  that  of  preventing  increase  in  the  value  of  labour  and  land 
throughout  the  world,  that  commodities  may  be  had  “  cheap.”  How  great  is 
the  power  exercised  for  this  purpose,  will  readily  be  seen  by  all  who  study 
the  sliding-scale  system,  by  which  consumption  is  diminished  with  any  small 
advance  of  price,  and  the  tendency  upwards  thus  counteracted.  The  existing 
consumption  can  be  maintained  only  at  the  present  minimum  prices,  and  the 
reason  why  it  can  only  be  so  maintained  is,  that  “  cheap”  cotton  and  “  cheap” 
sugar  make  the  labour-cost  of  cloth  and  iron  so  great  that  the  poor  culti¬ 
vator  of  those  “  cheap”  things  cannot  afford  to  purchase  either.  Hear  as  is  the 
cloth  to  the  consumers,  and  little  as  the  cotton  has  yielded  to  its  producers,  the 
manufacturers  have,  we  are  assured,  been  working  at  a  loss  during  nearly 
all  those  five  years,  and  the  profits  are  set  down  at  only  lid.  per  pound 
in  1845,  designated  by  Messrs.  Rathbone,  in  their  circular  accompanying  the 
diagram  given  at  page  75,  as  one  of  “  enormous  profits  to  manufacturers.” 
The  differences  in  the  prices  of  both  cotton  and  yarn  as  here  given,  from 
those  given  by  Messrs.  R.,  are  sometimes  remarkable.  The  cost  of  converting 
a  pound  of  cotton  into  yarn  No.  40,  is  also  remarkable,  and  must  embrace 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


143 


many  allowances  for  wear  and  tear,  management,  &c.  A  mill  in  this  neigh¬ 
bourhood,  at  work  upon  No.  35,  converts  into  cloth  above  a  million  of  pounds, 
with  the  labour  of  300  persons.  The  average  wages  of  England  are  under 
30?.  per  head,  and  this  would  give  9000?.,  or  about  two  millions  of  pence, 
for  wages  of  labour  required  for  converting  a  million  of  pounds  into  cloth,  or 
two  pence  per  pound.  Notwithstanding  this  unceasing  succession  of  losses, 
there  has  been,  as  we  are  assured,  a  constant  increase  of  machinery  for  doing 
the  work,  while  the  whole  increase  of  consumption  is  trifling.  -It  is  difficult 
to  reconcile  these  statements. 

Less  difficult  is  it  to  ascertain  what  is  the  policy  of  the  planter.  It  is  to 
break  down  the  monopoly  and  bring  the  machinery  of  England  to  the  cotton 
fields ,  and  there  it  will  come  whenever  the  producers  of  food  and  cotton  shall 
declare  to  the  world  that  it  is  their  fixed  policy  to  extend  the  consumption  of 
cotton  by  enabling  themselves  to  supply  it  cheaply  to  the  consumers ,  a  work  that 
is  to  be  accomplished  by  freeing  themselves  from  the  control  of  those  who 
now  live,  and  move,  and  have  their  being,  by  means  of  standing  between 
the  producer  and  the  consumer,  impoverishing  the  one  so  that  he  cannot  con¬ 
tinue  to  produce,  and  the  other  so  that  he  cannot  continue  to  consume. 

It  cannot  fail  to  strike  the  reader  as  singular,  that  the  clever  writer  of  this 
article  supposes  that  the  system  which  destroys  cultivation  in  India  and  Bra¬ 
zil  has  no  such  effect  in  this  country.  He  assumes  that  we  produce  all  we 
can,  whereas  we  know  that  the  great  object  throughout  the  South  is  to  limit 
production,  and  that  the  producers  are  perpetually  flying  from  lands  that  have 
been  exhausted  to  seek  new  ones  to  be  again  exhausted,  and  wasting  on  the 
road  more  labour  than  would  add  to  the  crop  hundreds  of  thousands  of  bales. 

Had  the  planters  eight  years  since  determined  that  the  loom  shoidd  come 
to  the  cotton,  the  crop  of  this  year  would  exceed  three  millions,  and  the  price 
would  be  higher  than  it  is  now  with  one  of  two  millions ;  for  we  should  our¬ 
selves  be  consuming  much  more  than  a  million,  the  purchasers  of  which  would 
be  found  among  prosperous  makers  of  iron,  who  would  be  producing  1200  or 
1500  thousand  tons  to  be  applied  to  the  making  of  roads  for  the  use  of  pros¬ 
perous  farmers  and  equally  prosperous  miners  and  manufacturers.  Increase 
of  price  thus  produced  increases  consumption,  and  such  is  the  tendency  of 
protection.  Increase  of  price  resulting  from  short  crops  tends  to  diminish  con¬ 
sumption,  and  such  is  the  tendency  of  the  monopoly  system.  It  destroys  both 
the  power  to  produce  and  the  power  to  consume. 

CHAPTER  SEVENTEENTH. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  THE  CURRENCY. 

If  protection  be  u  a  war  upon  labour  and  capital,”  it  must  tend  to  produce 
those  disturbances  of  the  currency  that  tend  so  greatly  to  diminish  the  return 
to  both.  If,  on  the  contrary,  it  be  a  peaceful  measure  of  resistance  to  a  sys¬ 
tem  tending  to  the  oppression  of  the  labourers  and  capitalists  of  the  world, 
then  it  must  tend  to  produce  that  steadiness  of  the  currency  so  desirable  to 
all,  labourer  and  mechanic,  farmer  and  planter,  ship-owner  and  merchant. 

The  real  currency  of  the  world  consists  of  labour  and  the  things  for  which 
men  are  willing  to  give  labour,  food,  clothing,  fuel,  iron,  &c.  That  which  is 
usually  denominated  11  currency,”  is  merely  the  standard  by  which  their  re¬ 
spective  values  are  measured.  The  labourer  sells  the  exertions  of  a  week  for 
five  dollars,  and  he  receives  in  return  five  bushels  of  wheat,  also  valued  at 
five  dollars.  The  capitalist  sells  a  house  for  twenty  thousand  dollars,  and 
orders  the  purchase  of  a  quantity  of  shares  of  stock  which,  measured  by  the 
same  standard,  are  found  to  be  the  equivalent  of  that  number  of  dollars. 

The  price  of  wheat  changes  with  the  size  of  the  crop.  So  does  that  of 


144 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


sugar.  If  the  supply  of  wheat  he  large,  and  that  of  sugar  small,  much  wheat 

will  he  given  for  little  sugar.  ^  . 

The  introduction  of  a  third  commodity,  itself  liable  to  variation  m  the 
supply,  as  is  the  case  with  money,  tends  to  produce  additional  variations  in 
the  quantity  of  one  commodity  that  must  be  given  for  another.  Thus,  if  the 
supply  of  money  he  large  among  one  set  of  wheat  raisers,  and  small  among 
another,  the  raiser  of  sugar  will  sell  in  the  first  and  buy  in  the  last,  obtaining 
much  money  from  the  one  and  giving  little  to  the  other. 

Were  all  arrangements  for  the  production,  purchase,  or  sale  of  commodities 
or  property  executed  on  the  instant,  this  cause  of  disturbance  would  scarcely 
exist,  because  the  prices  of  all  would  be  similarly  affected,  being  high  when 
money  was  plenty,  and  low  when  it  was  scarce,  and  the  quantity  of  sugar  to 
be  given  for  wheat,  or  wheat  for  sugar,  would  depend  upon  the  size  of  the 
crops  almost  as  completely  as  if  no  intermediate  commodity  were  used. 
Such,  however,  is  not  the  case.  The  merchant  buys  coffee  in  January,  and 
contracts  to  deliver  its  equivalent  in  money  in  July,  at  which  time  money 
may  be  so  scarce  that  six  pounds  of  coffee  will  command  no  more  than  would 
have  been  done  in  January  by  four  pounds.  The  merchant  commences  to 
build  a  ship  in  July,  when  money  is  scarce  and  the  price  of  labour  is  low, 
and  he  finishes  it  when  money  is  plenty  and  wages  are  high,  and  it  costs  him 
ten,  fifteen,  or  twenty  per  cent,  more  than  he  had  calculated  upon.  The 
little  trader,  on  the  contrary,  who  buys  and  sells*  from  day  to  day,  loses 
nothing.  If  he  buys  high  he  sells  high,  and  if  prices  are  low  to  buy,  he 
makes  them  low  to  sell,  and  the  measure  of  his  business  is  the  measure  of  his 
profits. 

The  great  sufferers  by  such  variations  are  those  the  nature  of  whose  pro¬ 
perty,  or  the  character  of  whose  business,  requires  them  to.  make  arrange¬ 
ments  far  ahead,  and  to  take  the  risks  incident  to  changes  in  the  currency 
for  the  whole  period  that  elapses  between  the  commencement  and  the  con¬ 
clusion  of  an  undertaking.  Such  are  all  the  persons  the  products  of  whose 
labour  are  not  intended  for  immediate  consumption— the  owners  of  houses, 
farms,  factories,  furnaces,  railroads — all,  in  fact,  connected  with  the  improve* 
ment  of  land.  In  a  time  of  pressure  for  money  in  one  place,  flour,  cotton, 
cloth,  and  other  articles  intended  for  daily  consumption,  may  be  transferred  to 
other  places  where  money  is  plenty,  and  the  changes  in  their  prices  are  there¬ 
fore  small  when  compared  with  those  which  are  experienced  by  the  possessors 
of  property  that  cannot  be  transferred,  and  is  therefore  obliged  to  bear  the 
whole  burden  of  the  change.  In  such  cases  land  becomes  entirely  unsaleable 
except  at  an  enormous  reduction  of  price,  to  which  its  owners  must  submit  if 
they  are  placed  in  a  position  to  render  sales  necessary,  and  thus  it  is  that  so 
many  persons  connected  with  land  and  its  improvement  are  ruined  by  revul¬ 
sions  that  affect  but  in  a  slight  degree  the  operations  of  the  retail  grocer. 

Such,  likewise,  is  the  case  with  labour.  The  man  who  has  a  family  and 
finds  no  demand  for  his  labour  cannot  change  his  locality.  He  and  his 
family  must  suffer  together.  Food  may  be  at  a  low  money-price ,  but  if  he 
can  obtain  no  employment,  the  labour-price  is  so  high  that  he  cannot  pur¬ 
chase  it.  Land  and  labour,  then,  are  specially  interested  in  the  maintenance 
of  uniformity  in  the  standard  by  which  the  products  of  both  are  measured, 
because  they  are  the  great  sufferers  by  the  changes  which  occur  in  the  pro¬ 
gress  of  time. 

Time  and  distance  are,  in  this  respect,  the  equivalents  of  each  other.  The 
man  who  builds  a  house  calculates  upon  the  continuance,  during  the  period 
of  its  erection,  of  the  state  of  things  that  existed  at  its  commencement,  and 
he  who  remits  to  China  to  purchase  teas,  bases  his  calculations  on  the  state 
of  affairs  that  existed  in  that  country  three  months  previously.  If  money  in 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


145 


the  mean  time  has  become  more  abundant,  he  may  pay  higher  for  his  teas 
than  he  had  calculated  upon,  and  if  before  their  arrival  it  becomes  less 
abundant  here,  he  will  obtain  less,  and  thus  will  reap  loss  instead  of  profit. 
The  man  who  raises  cotton  when  he  might  have  raised  sugar  or  wheat,  bases 
his  calculations  on  the  state  of  affairs  that  he  supposes  will  exist  in  a  foreign 
country,  and  is  thus  forced  to  superadd  the  risks  of  distance  to  those  of  time. 
If  he  exchanged  his  products  with  his  neighbour,  both  would  be  subject  to 
the  same  variations,  so  far  as  the  currency  was  concerned.  If  money  were 
less  abundant,  flour,  sugar,  pork,  cloth,  and  iron  would  feel  its  effects  pre¬ 
cisely  as  cotton  felt  them,  and  though  he  might  obtain  less  money,  he  would 
have  precisely  the  same  quantity  of  the  commodities  for  the  purchase  of 
which  he  required  to  have  money.  The  proximity  of  the  consumer  and  the 
producer  tends,  then,  to  lessen  the  difficulties  resulting  from  changes  in  the 
currency  by  which  land  and  labour  are  always  the  chief  sufferers. 

The  object  of  the  colonial  system  was  that  of  compelling  the  farmers  and 
planters  of  the  world  to  make  their  exchanges  in  a  distant  market,  and  thus 
to  increase  the  time  within  which  such  risk  must  be  borne,  adding  thereto  all  those 
which  result  from  distance.  When  the  Hindoo-  exchanged  his  cotton  on  the 
spot  for  cloth,  the  prices  of  cotton,  cloth,  and  labour  were  governed  by  the 
same  circumstances,  for  the  exchanges  were  made  on  the  instant.  To  make 
his  exchanges  now,  two  years’  time  are  required,  and  he  is,  during  all  that 
period,  subject  to  the  risk  of  changes  like  those  which  have  marked  the  years 
1847  and  1848.  His  pursuit  is  rendered  one  of  mere  gambling,  without  the 
advantage  of  holding  his  own  cards,  although  bound  to  pay  the  losses. 

All  the  losses  he  and  his  fellow-planters  do  pay,  as  will  be  seen  by  those 
who  will  study  out  the  working  of  the  system.  The  cotton,  the  wool,  the 
sugar,  and  the  food  of  the  world  are  sent  to  England  for  exchange.  Her 
people  buy  and  sell  on  the  instant,  the  time  that  is  required  to  elapse  between 
the  purchase  of  the  wool  and  the  sale  of  the  yarn  not  exceeding  a  single  week. 
If  yarn  fall,  so  does  cotton.  If  cotton  rise,  so  does  yarn.  The  whole  loss 
from  changes  of  currency  resulting  from  time  and  distance  is  thus  thrown 
upon  the  planter.  The  whole  gain  resulting  from  the  diminution  of  the  risks 
of  both  goes  to  the  proprietor  of  the  small  and  easily  transported  spindle,  the 
cost  of  which  is  as  nothing  when  compared  with  the  cost  of  the  great  machine 
required  for  producing  the  wool. 

The  nation  that  thus  desires  to  compel  all  the  other  nations  of  the  world 
to  bring  to  her  their  products,  that  they  may  there  be  measured  by 
her  standard,  ought  to  be  able  to  show  that  it  is  one  the  length,  or  the 
contents,  of  which  must,  under  any  and  every  circumstance,  remain  un¬ 
changed.  The  standard  of  weight  and  that  of  length  are  fixed  and  unchange¬ 
able.  So  should  be  that  of  value.  Far,  otherwise,  however,  is  it.  The  con¬ 
trol  of  that  great  and  important  standard  for  the  measurement  of  the  values 
of  the  world  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  bank  of  England,  the  directors  of 
which  have  proved  their  utter  incompetency  for  the  important  business  dele¬ 
gated  to  them  by  bringing  the  institution,  at  four  different  periods  within 
the  last  thirty  years,  within  the  jaws  of  bankruptcy.  Their  object  is  to 
make  large  dividends,  and,  to  accomplish  that  object,  money  is,  as  it  is  called, 
made  plenty  ;  that  is,  the  directors  overtrade  largely,  and  thus  block  up  the 
capital  of  individuals  who  find  themselves  compelled  to  take  from  the  bank 
evidences  of  debt  (certificates  of  deposit)  not  bearing  interest,  when  they 
would  have  preferred  other  evidences  bearing  interest,  and  would  have  ob¬ 
tained  them  at  reasonable  prices  had  not  the  bank  commenced  to  overtrade. 
With  every  increase  of  this  indebtedness,  called  deposits,  the  bank  considers 
itself  richer  and  overtrades  further,  until  at  length  speculation  is  produced, 
railroads  are  made,  ships  and  houses  are  built,  and  then  the  day  of  settlement 


146 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


arrives,  when  the  hank  crushes  everybody  in  the  effort  to  save  itself.  The 
standard  of  value  shrinks  to  half,  and  the  owner  of  fixed  property  finds  him¬ 
self  ruined,  while  the  planter  obtains  threepence  where  he  had  looked  for 
sixpence,  and  the  farmer  is  brought  in  debt  for  charges  on  his  food  where  he 
had  looked  to  realize  a  dollar  a  bushel. 

The  man  of  England,  who  buys  cotton  and  sells  yarn  or  cloth,  suffers  lit¬ 
tle  from  those  changes.  On  the  appearance  of  the  first  sign  of  change,  he 
shortens  his  hours  of  work,  or  diminishes  the  number  of  his  hands,  and  then,  when 
the  time  for  it  arrives,  he  closes  his  mill.  His  work-people  are  thus,  in  whole 
or  in  part,  deprived  of  wages,  and  rendered  unable  to  purchase  food  or  cloth¬ 
ing,  the  consequence  of  which  is  diminished  demand  and  reduced  prices  for 
both,  and  thus  are  all  the  losses  thrown  upon  the  farmers  and  planters  of  the 
world,  who  are  ruined  by  the  necessity  for  dependence  on  a  country  which 
desires  to  establish  for  itself  a  monopoly  of  machinery  for  the  supply  of  iron 
and  for  the  conversion  of  wool  into  cloth,  with  all  of  which  they  might  supply 
themselves  at  less  cost  than  is  now  imposed  upon  them  in  each  and  every  year. 


It  is  usual  to  attribute  the  disasters  of  the  period  from  1836  to  1842  to 
derangements  in  our  currency,  proceeding  from  erroneous  action  at  home  ;  but 
those  who  examine  more  carefully  will  find  that  they  were  themselves  effects 
resulting  from  other  causes,  as  I  propose  now  to  show. 

It  is  usual  to  talk  of  capital  as  money  ;  but  money  is  only  the  standard  by 
which  commodities  are  measured,  and  a  very  small  quantity  of  the  one  suffices 
to  measure  a  large  quantity  of  the  other.  The  same  dollar  may  be  used  a 
thousand  times  in  a  week,  each  time  acting  as  the  standard  by  which  labour, 
flour,  cotton,  sugar,  &c.,  have  been  measured.  The  man  who  has  sold  a  cargo 
of  sugar  has  acquired  a  credit  with  somebody  by  aid  of  which  he  may  obtain 
a  cargo  of  flour.  The  borrower  from  a  bank  has  acquired  a  credit  which  he 
transfers  to  his  neighbour,  and  that  neighbour  transfers  it  to  a  third,  who 
divides  it  among  his  workmen,  and  by  its  aid  they  obtain  food,  clothing,  and 
shelter. 

Whenever  the  daily  demand  for  labour  and  its  products  is  equal  to  the  daily 
supply,  the  rate  of  interest,  or  the  price  of  capital  seeking  investment,  will  remain 
stationary,  to  the  great  advantage  of  the  owners  of  landed  and  other  fixed  capi¬ 
tal.  Whenever,  by  reason  of  any  cause  whatever,  the  daily  demand  is  less 
than  the  daily  supply,  the  accumulation  of  unemployed  capital  begins.  There 
are  fewer  houses  built,  and  the  consequence  is,  that  there  is  less  demand  for 
labour,  the  price  of  which  falls,  and  the  power  to  consume  food  and  clothing 
is  diminished.  The  demand  for  iron  and  cotton  is  lessened,  and  furnaces  and 
mills  cease  to  be  built,  and  the  power  to  consume  food  and  clothing  is  thus 
still  further  diminished.  With  each  step  in  this  progress,  there  is  a  tendency 
to  the  accumulation  of  unproductive  capital.  One  man  has  it  in  the  form  of 
iron,  another  in  that  of  cloth,  a  third  in  that  of  labour,  and  a  fourth  has  it 
in  the  form  of  a  debt  due  to  him  by  a  bank  which  pays  him  no  interest.  By 
degrees  the  iron  and  cloth  pass  off  to  be  consumed,  and,  as  their  owners  do 
not  desire  to  reinvest  the  proceeds,  they  take  a  further  credit  on  the  bank, 
which  still  pays  no  interest.  In  this  manner  capital  is  blocked  up,  deposits 
accumulate,  the  rate  of  interest  necessarily  falls,  and  the  prices  of  existing 
securities  rise. 

With  this  rise  comes  a  desire  to  create  more  investments  similar  to  those 
which  still  continue  to  pay  interest,  and  there  is  a  rush  to  seize  on  those  sup¬ 
posed  to  possess  greater  advantages  than  others.  Speculation  begins,  and 
prices  run  up  rapidly.  Having  reached  the  zenith,  the  downward  course  be¬ 
gins.  Thenceforward  the  progress  is  rapid,  and  fortunes  disappear  in  a  mo- 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


147 


ment,  leaving  not  even  u  a  wreck  behind.”  The  capitalist,  after  having  been 
for  a  long  time  deprived  of  interest,  now  loses  the  capital  itself. 

By  the  laws  of  1832  and  1833,  railroad  iron,  French  merchandise  gene¬ 
rally,  linens,  and  other  commodities,  were  freed  from  duty.  Some  descrip¬ 
tions  of  woollen  manufactures  were  reduced  to  ten  per  cent.,  and  a  general 
reduction  was  established,  commencing  in  1833,  and  increasing  biennially 
thereafter,  until  there  should  be  reached  a  uniform  rate  of  20  per  cent. 

The  passage  of  these  laws  diminished  the  demand  for  capital  to  be  employed 
in  the  making  of  iron.  As  they  came  gradually  into  action,  there  was  a  dimi¬ 
nution  in  the.  tendency  to  build  mills.  In  place  of  producing  iron  and  cloth, 
we  bought  them  on  credit.  Capital  accumulated,  and  the  prices  of  dividend¬ 
paying  stocks  rose.  Next,  companies  were  established  for  making  railroads, 
and  States  made  roads  and  canals,  for  which  the  iron  and  cloth  were  bought 
on  credit.  The  difficulty  of  employing  capital  in  the  East  caused  it  to  seek 
investment  in  the  South  and  South-west,  there  to  be  employed  in  the  making 
of  banks  and  roads,  and  there  to  be  sunk  for  ever.  The  day  of  payment 
came.  The  iron  and  cloth  had  been  used,  and  the  certificates  of  debt  given 
in  exchange  for  it  were  abroad.  The  banks  were  heavily  in  debt  to  the  per¬ 
sons  whose  capital  had  accumulated  in  their  hands,  and  not  being  able  to  pay 
they  had  to  stop,  and  thus  commenced  a  period  the  most  disastrous  to  the 
labourers  and  the  owners  of  capital  fixed  in  land,  houses,  and  roads,  that  the 
country  has  ever  seen. 

An  examination  of  the  tables  I  have  furnished  will  show  that,  during  this 
period,  the  productive  power  of  the  country  was  stationary.  Capital  was  in 
demand  for  distant  speculation,  but  for  little  else.  Houses,  ships,  factories, 
mills,  furnaces,  and  all  other  of  the  modes  of  investment  by  which  value  is 
given  to  land,  felt  the  effect  equally,  and  thus,  while  the  labourer  suffered  in 
the  diminution  of  wages,  the  land-holder  suffered  in  the  diminished  value  of 
land.  Had  the  roads  and  canals  of  1835  to  1839  been  based  upon  home¬ 
made  cloth  and  iron,  they  would  have  produced  unmixed  good ;  but  being  made 
with  borrowed  cloth  and  borrowed  iron,  they  were  accompanied  by  a  general 
deterioration  of  condition  throughout  the  community,  resulting  in  the  disgrace 
of  bankruptcy  and  repudiation. 

By  those  who  will  trouble  themselves  to  look  below  the  surface,  it  will 
readily  be  seen  that  the  state  of  things  here  described  is  precisely  that  now 
existing,  and  that  the  process  at  present  going  on  is  the  same  that  brought  ruin 
eight  years  since.  Companies  obtain  large  quantities  of  English  iron  upon 
securities  that  would  not  be  received  in  this  country,  and  when  the  day  of 
defalcation  shall  come,  as  come  it  must,  the  cry  of  American  bankruptcy  will 
be  as  rife  throughout  Europe  as  it  was  but  five  years  since.  Scarcely  a  week 
elapses  that  does  not  bring  with  it  a  notice  like  the  following,  and  yet  the 
quantity  of  iron  consumed  is  less  than  when  it  was  'produced  at  liome ,  a.nd 
paid  for  in  labour  that  is  now  being  roasted. 

“The  agent  who  went  to  England,  to  purchase  iron  for  the  Great-Western  Railroad  of 
Illinois;  has  returned  in  the  Cambria,  with  proposals  to  furnish  the  whole  quantity- 
required  for  the  road  from  Cairo  to  Chicago,  receiving  in  payment  the  six  per  cent,  ster¬ 
ling  bonds  of  the  Company,  payable  in  London/’ 

Capital  is  said  to  be  abundant,  and  interest  is  low — for  those  who  have 
unquestionable  securities.  The  reason  is,  that  the  natural  outlets  for  capital 
are  closed.*  Iron  is  superabundant,  and  furnaces  are  not  built.  Coal  is 
superabundant,  and  mines  are  not  opened.  Cotton  oloth  is  superabundant, 
and  mills  are  not  built.  Ships  are  superabundant,  and  the  building  of  ships, 

' 

*  It  would  be  nearly  impossible  to  find  a  mode  of  investment  tending  to  produce  de¬ 
mand  for  labour,  in  which  capital  could  be  profitably  employed,  and  hence  it  is  that  there 
is  so  universal  a  demand  for  bank  charters. 


148 


THE  HARMONY  OP  INTERESTS. 


brigs,  and  schooners,  is  diminished.  We  are  buying  on  credit  the  cloth  and 
iron  we  should  be  making,  while  the  labour  and  capital  that  should  be  em¬ 
ployed  in  their  production  seek  in  vain  for  employment.  The  heavy  sufferers 
are,  and  are  to  be,  labour  and  land.  The  broker  takes  his  usual  shave 
for  the  notes  which  pass  through  his  hands,  and  the  grocer  charges  his  usual 
cent  per  pound  on  sugar,  but  the  furnace  is  closed,  and  with  it  the  demand 
for  food  and  labour — the  mine  is  abandoned,  and  the  miner  suffers  from  want 
of  clothing — the  constructor  of  railroads  obtains  no  dividend,  and  the  desire 
to  make  roads  as  an  investment  of  capital  has  passed  away,  and  with  it  the 
demand  for  labour,  food,  and  clothing.  By  degrees,  the  same  results  must 
be  experienced  by  every  interest  of  the  nation.  The  return  to  labour  is 
diminishing,  and  the  value  of  land,  houses,  ships,  railroads,  and  every  other 
species  of  property,  is  dependent  on  the  extent  of  that  return  rising  as  it 
rises,  and  falling  as  it  falls. 

The  nearer  the  consumer  and  the  producer  can  be  brought  to  each  other, 
the  more  perfectly  will  be  the  adjustment  of  production  and  consumption, 
the  more  steady  will  be  the  currency,  and  the  higher  will  be  the  value  of 
land  and  labour.  The  object  of  protection  is  to  accomplish  all  these  objects, 
by  bringing  the  loom  and  the  anvil  to  take  their  natural  places  by  the  side 
of  the  plough  and  the  harrow,  thus  making  a  market  on  the  land  for  the  pro¬ 
ducts  of  the  land. 


Of  all  the  commodities  in  use  by  man,  there  are  none  that  contribute  so 
little  to  his  comfort  or  convenience  as  gold  and  silver.  They  are  useless  for 
the  clearing  or  draining  of  lands,  the  building  of  houses  or  mills,  or  the  con¬ 
struction  of  ships  or  railroads.  They  can  be  neither  eaten,  drunken,  nor  to 
any  extent  worn.  Nevertheless,  of  all  they  are  the  two  whose  arrival  and 
departure  are  most  carefully  chronicled. 

Ten  furnaces  and  rolling-mills,  capable  of  producing  in  a  year  three  mil¬ 
lions  of  dollars’  worth  of  iron,  may  close  without  producing  even  a  passing 
remark  from  a  newspaper,  but  no  vessel  can  arrive  or  depart,  with  fifty 
thousand  dollars  in  gold,  without  the  arrival  being  noticed  in  half  the  papers 
of  the  Union. 

The  factitious  importance  thus  given  to  the  precious  metals  is  one  of  the 
effects  of  the  colonial  system,  which  demands  that  all  the  commodities  of  the 
world  shall  be  brought  to  one  market,  there  to  be  submitted  to  one  standard. 
Its  effects  at  home  have  been  to  make  every  man  a  seller  of  almost  all  he 
produces,  and  a  buyer  of  almost  all  he  consumes.*  “In  our  social  system,” 
says  the  accomplished  traveller,  Mr.  Laing,*|'  u  every  man  buys  all  he  sells, 
and  sells  all  he  produces.  The  very  bread  of  our  labourers,  he  continues, 
u  is  often  bought  at  the  manufacturer’s  shop.”  The  system  has  converted  a 
large  portion  of  the  little  occupants  into  hired  labourers,  receiving  from  six  to 
nine  shillings  a  week,J  and  occupying  poor  houses  in  poor  villages,  where 


*  “  The  evil  of  our  economical  system  is,  that  too  many  of  us  live  by  wages.  When 
masters  suffer,  the  servant  starves.  When  wages  stop,  he  has  nothing  to  fall  back  upon. 
When  he  would  eat,  he  has  every  thing  to  buy— and,  wages  stopped,  where  has  he  to 
buy  with  ?  But  the  seed-time  and  harvest  of  the  spade  husbandman  never  foil  him.  He 
may  lose  a  crop,  but  something  is  still  left.  When  the  slug  takes  his  patch  ol  wheat,  he 
can  kill  him,  or  thrust  in  cabbages,  or  barley,  or  vetches,  or  something.  The  cow  will 
yield  her  milk,  whether  ports  are  open,  or  discounts  are  raised.  Take  labour  out  of  the 
market,  and  wages  rise — the' great  body  of  consumers  possess  better  means  of  payment, 
and  manufacturers  and  tradesmen  flourish  by  cheap  food  and  better  wages.  The  former 
is  relieved  in  his  rates,  and  the  landlord  gets  a  better  rent  for  his  land.” — The  Mother 
Country ,  by  Sidney  Smith. 

-j-  Notes  of  a  Traveller,  page  152,  American  edition.  4  See  pages  113 — 117,  ante. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


149 


they  are  compelled  to  waste  much  of  the  time  that  would,  under  a  different 
one,  be  employed  with  infinite  advantage  to  themselves  and  others.* 

The  man  who  exchanges  directly  with  his  neighbour  food  and  labour  for 
coal  or  iron,  has  little  need  of  money.  He  exchanges  labour  for  labour,  and 
if  the  account  do  not  adjust  itself,  it  is  frequently  balanced  by  the  transfer  of 
the  difference  to  the  credit  of  another,  and  thus  is  there  established  in  every 
community  in  which  men  combine  their  exertions,  a  sort  of  clearing  house , 
quite  as  effective  in  its  operations  as  the  celebrated  one  of  London. f 

The  man  who  sends  his  cotton  to  Liverpool  or  Lowell,  trades  altogether 
for  money.  He  desires  to  know  how  much  gold  he  can  have  for  a  bale,  and 
how  much  iron  he  can  have  for  a  pound  of  gold.  He  uses  machinery  with 
which  the  others  can  dispense. 

Whatever  tends  to  increase  the  quantity  of  machinery  required  for  the 
accomplishment  of  a  given  effect,  tends  to  increase  the  friction  and  augment 
the  power  required  for  its  accomplishment.  Such  is  the  case  here.  The 
necessity  for  using  gold  tends  to  introduce  a  new  and  powerful  cause  of  dis¬ 
turbance  in  the  operations  of  the  planter,  and  greatly  to  augment  the  cost  of 
them,  thus  increasing  the  friction  and  diminishing  the  effect.  Gold  and 
silver  are  reduced  in  weight  by  abrasion,  and  for  all  this  loss  the  producer  and 
the  consumer  pay.  The  exchanger  pays  nothing.  He  lives  at  their  cost. 

Twenty-five  years  since,  we  thought  much  of  gold  or  silver,  for  we  were 

*  “One  principal  cause  of  the  extraordinary  productiveness  of  land,  under  the 
management  of  small  occupiers,  is,  that  all  or  most  of  the  cultivators  are  directly  inte¬ 
rested  in  the  success  of  their  labour  ;  they  work  for  themselves,  and  consequently  with 
an  ardour  which  cannot  be  expected  from  hired  labourers.  Every  farmer  might,  how¬ 
ever,  make  his  servants  almost  equally  zealous  in  his  cause  by  altering  the  mode  of  re¬ 
munerating  them.  If,  instead  of  being  paid  a  fixed  rate  of  wages,  they  were  entitled  to 
a  certain  proportion  of  the  crops,  they  would  strive  to  make  the  crops  as  abundant  as 
possible.  *  *  *  Nothing  more  is  wanting  to  cure  over-population  than  to  make  people 
comfortable,  and  to  make  the  continuance  of  their  comforts  dependent  on  themselves.” — 
Thornton  on  Over-population. 

•{■  Such  are  “the  protective  societies”  established  in  New  England,  in  which  workmen 
supply  themselves  with  the  various  commodities  required  for  their  consumption.  They 
desire  to  dispense  as  much  as  possible  with  the  services  of  the  exchanger,  as  common 
sense  would  teach  all  men  to  do.  I  take  the  following  paragraph,  illustrative  of  this 
movement,  from  one  of  the  journals  of  the  day : — 

“  Mr.  Kaulback,  the  purchasing  agent  of  the  several  protective  unions  in  New  England, 
has  paid  for  the  purchase  of  goods  for  the  quarter  ending  January  1,  1S50,  the  sum  of 
$102,000,  being  an  increase  of  some  $23,000  over  the  previous  three  months.  This  is  an 
important  branch  of  trade  that  has  recently  grown  up  among  us,  the  more  so  as  it  is  a 
cash  business,  no  credit  in  any  case  ever  being  asked  for.  There  are  now  in  active 
operation  109  union  cash  stores  in  New  England,  nearly  all  stocked  by  the  above-named 
agent.” — Boston  paper. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  cases  of  combination  of  action  is  now  going  the  rounds  of 
the  newspapers.  Captain  Geo.  Kimball  determined  to  build  a  ship  in  a  remote  district 
of  Maine,  and  there,  “  alone,  a  company  of  one,  without  capital,  in  a  forest,  at  a  distance 
even  from  deep  water,  he  commenced  his  noble  enterprise.  He  was  soon  joined  by  a 
single  man,  in  a  few  weeks  others  followed  ;  women  contributed  provisions,  and  the 
farmers  sent  in  cattle  which  were  exchanged  for  materials  for  ship-building.  The  no¬ 
velty  of  the  undertaking  attracted  adventurers  from  a  distance,  and  experienced  ship¬ 
builders  and  joiners  arrived  to  give  their  strength  and  skill  to  the  work.  All  who  aided 
in  the  enterprise,  whether  men,  women,  or  children,  received  their  proportionate  share 
in  the  ship.  In  April  last  the  work  was  commenced,  and  in  November  she  was  launched, 
a  splendid  ship  of  more  than  six  hundred  tons  burden,  and  christened  the  ‘  California 
Packet.’  She  is  now  in  Boston  with  her  passengers  on  board,  those  who  built  and  own 
her,  and  to  whom  she  is  now  a  home.  We  need  not  say  that  the  men  and  women  who 
compose  this  company  are  specimens  of  our  New  England  population,  to  whom  we  can 
refer  with  pride.” — Boston  Transcript. 


150 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


then  obliged  to  export  them.  Under  the  tariff  of  1828,  we  imported  them, 
and  then  they  were  little  the  subjects  of  thought.  Under  the  Compromise, 
there  came  a  demand  for  so  much  coin  that  we  became  bankrupt,  and  then 
came  a  rage  for  gold.  Under  the  tariff  of  1842,  we  imported  much  gold, 
and  the  idea  ceased  to  occupy  the  public  mind.  Under  the  tariff  of  1846, 
we  have  exported  much,  and  have  run  largely  in  debt,  preparatory  to  a  de¬ 
mand  for  gold.  When  that  shall  come,  it  will  again  be  sought  for  as  it  was 
in  1842. 

Among  the  evidences  of  the  wastefulness  of  the  existing  system  may  be 
found  the  rage  for  increasing  the  number  of  places  at  which  gold  is  to  be 
weighed  and  marked — called  mints.  The  mint  neither  adds  to  the  quantity 
nor  improves  the  quality  of  the  thing  that  is  minted,  and  yet  it  is  now  pro¬ 
posed  to  spend  six  or  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  making  an  addition 
to  the  number  of  buildings  in  which  this  work  is  to  be  performed,  although 
there  are  now  far  more  than  are  needed  for  the  work  that  is  to  be  done. 
The  object  in  view  is  the  saving  of  freight  and  interest.  Were  the  govern¬ 
ment  to  receive  bullion  in  New  York,  paying  for  it  at  full  price,  and  then  to 
transport  it  at  its  own  cost  back  and  forth,  the  freight  and  interest  would  not 
amount  to  half  as  much  as  the  salaries  of  the  officers,  and  were  the  same 
capital  applied  to  the  building  of  furnaces,  it  would  erect  as  many  as  would 
produce  as  much  iron  as  would  pay  for  more  than  half  the  gold  and  silver 
coined  in  the  year  1848,  the  amount  of  which  was  $4,450,000.  It  is  time 
that  the  planters  and  farmers  of  the  Union  should  look  to  thesse  matters  for 
themselves,  for  they  it  is  that  have  to  suffer  by  the  waste  of  capital. 

Striking  evidence  of  the  diminishing  power  of  the  people  of  G-reat  Britain 
and  Ireland  to  obtain  the  comforts  and  conveniences  of  life,  may  be  found  in 
the  following  statement  of  the  quantity  of  gold  and  silver  plate,  including,  of 
course,  spoons,  forks,  and  other  articles  of  daily  use,  stamped  at  the  follow¬ 
ing  periods : 


Year. 

1801—10 

1810—29 

1839—47 


Population. 

17,000,000 

21,000,000 

28,000,000 


Gold-plate  ounces. 

5,471 

6,926 

7,041 


Silver-plate  ounces. 

1,015,147 

1,209,616 

1,118,550 


Value  of  bullion  per  head. 

64  cents. 

64  “ 

4-45  « 


The  last  thirty  years  have  witnessed  the  passage  of  a  series  of  laws  tend¬ 
ing  to  compel  the  people  to  use  more  gold  and  silver ;  yet,  with  the  exten¬ 
sion  of  the  system,  their  ability  to  be  customers  to  the  men  who  mine 
those  metals  has  declined  almost  one-third.  The  market  of  the  miner  is  di¬ 
minishing  as  well  as  that  of  the  planter. 

With  the  diminution  of  the  necessities  of  man  there  is  a  constant  increase 
of  his  powers.  The  furnace  and  the  mill  diminish  his  necessity  for  going  to 
the  distant  market,  while  giving  him  roads  by  which  to  seek  it  at  his  pleasure. 
The  ship  brings  immigrants  to  eat  the  food  and  wear  the  cotton,  and  the 
freight  received  from  them  tends  largely  to  diminish  the  cost  of  sending  food 
and  cotton  to  distant  lands.  So  is  it  with  gold.  The  nearer  the  consumer 
and  producer  can  be  brought  together,  the  less  is  the  necessity  for  it,  and  the 
greater  th e  power  of  obtaining  it.  The  tendency  of  the  tariff  of  1846  is  to 
increase  the  necessity  for  it  and  diminish  the  power  of  obtaining  it,  because  it 
tends  to  diminish  the  value  of  both  land  and  labour. 


t 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


151 


CHAPTER  EIGHTEENTH. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  THE  FRIENDS  OF  PEACE. 

The  more  spades  and  ploughs  employed,  the  larger  is  the  return  to  labour. 
The  more  perfectly  peace  is  maintained,  the  greater  is  the  number  of  persons 
who  may  employ  themselves  with  spades  and  ploughs,  the  more  rapid  must 
he  the  increase  of  production,  and  the  larger  must  lie  the  reward  of  the 
labourer  and  the  capitalist. 

The  more  swords  and  muskets  employed,  the  smaller  must  be  the  return  to 
labour.  The  more  wars  are  made,  the  greater  must  be  the  number  of  persons 
employing  swords  and  muskets,  the  slower  must  be  the  increase  of  produc¬ 
tion,  and  the  smaller  must  be  the  reward  of  the  labourer  and  the  capitalist. 

Protection  is  said  to  be  a  u  war  upon  labour  and  capital.”  If  it  be  so,  it 
must  tend  to  promote  war.  We  are  urged  to  adopt  measures  for  maintaining  the 
monopoly  system  of  England,  and  are  assured  that,  by  doing  so,  we  shall  contri¬ 
bute  to  the  establishment  of  peace.  To  prove  that  such  would  be  the  effect, 
it  would  be  necessary  to  show  that  the  colonial  system  had  heretofore  tended 
to  the  accomplishment  of  that  great  end. 

If,  however,  we  examine  what  has  been  the  cause  of  most  of  the  wars  of 
the  last  hundred  and  fifty  years,  we  shall  find  that  it  has  been  the  desire  for 
the  possession  of  colonies  whose  people  could  be  made  “  customers,”  and 
thus  taxed  for  the  support  of  the  country  that  ruled  over  them.  France  had 
Canada,  and  she  desired  the  country  west  of  the  Mississippi ;  she  had  islands  in 
the  West  Indies,  and  she  wanted  more.  England  had  some  and  wanted  more. 
France  and  England  were  both  in  India,  and,  to  settle  the  question  which  should 
tax  the  whole,  that  country  was  desolated  by  the  march  of  contending  armies 
during  a  long  series  of  years.  France  had  colonies  to  lose,  and  hence  the  war  of 
1793.  France  wanted  colonies  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  hence  the  rupture 
of  the  peace  of  Amiens,  and  the  series  of  wars  that  closed  with  Waterloo. 
Since  that  time  we  have  had  a  succession  of  wars  in  India  for  the  extension 
of  British  power  over  Ceylon,  Siam,  Affghanistan,  Scinde,  and  the  Punjaub. 
The  chief  object  of  the  war  with  China  was  that  of  compelling  her  to  open 
her  ports  to  foreign  commerce,  and  it  was  accounted  a  righteous  enterprise 
thus  to  compel  the  poor  Chinese  to  open  their  eyes  to  the  blessings  of  free 
trade.  At  the  Cape,  the  war  with  the  Caffres  has  cost  millions.  France, 
not  to  be  outdone,  seized  on  Tahiti,  and  deposed  its  poor  queen;  and  at 
this  moment  makes  war  on  the  poor  Sandwich  Islanders,  because  they  will 
not  permit  her  to  do  with  brandy  as  England  in  China  did  with  opium.  One 
portion  of  the  English  nation  sells  powder  to  the  people  of  Africa,  to  enable 
them  to  carry  on  wars  in  which  they  make  prisoners,  who  are  sold  as  slaves, 
while  another  portion  watches  the  coast  to  see  that  the  slaves  shall  not  be 
transferred  to  Cuba  or  Brazil.  The  anxiety  for  colonies  has  caused  the  waste 
of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  lives,  and  hundreds  of  millions  on  the  worthless 
Algeria.  Thus  everywhere  it  is  the  same  ;  everywhere  the  anxiety  for  trade 
is  seen  stimulating  nations  to  measures  tending  to  the  impoverishment  and 
destruction  of  their  fellow-men. . 

The  power  to  make  war  depends  upon  the  high  or  low  valuation  of  man. 
Russia  makes  war  readily,  because  men  are  cheap.  France  supports  large 
armies  at  small  cost.  The  East  India  Company’s  army  consists  of  many 
hundred  thousand  men.  Men  in  India  are  cheap.  Belgium  supports  but  a 
small  army,  because  men  are  more  valuable.  England  is  weighed  down  by 
her  fleets  and  armies,  because  wages  are  higher  than  on  the  continent,  and 
she  is  therefore  compelled  to  depend  on  voluntary  enlistment.  Could  the 
price  of  men  be  raised,  she  would  be  compelled  to  dispense  with  fleets  and 


152 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


armies,  and  the  necessity  for  colonies  would  cease  to  exist.  Throughout  the 
world,  armies  have  been  large  where  men  were  held  of  small  account,  and 
throughout  they  have  tended  to  become  less  valuable  as  armies  became  more 

^The  cause  of  war  is  to  be  found  in  the  diminished  or  diminishing  produc¬ 
tiveness  of  labour,  as  our  own  experience  shows.  The  increasing  difficulty 
of  obtaining  the  means  of  support,  from  1835  to  1842,  produced  the  dispersion 
of  men  that  led  to  the  war  in  Florida,  the  occupation  of  Texas  and  Oregon,  the 
difficulty  with  Great  Britain,  the  war  with  Mexico,  and  the  occupation  ot 
California ;  and  this  latter  is  now  leading  us  into  discussions  with  Great  Britain 
about  the  rights  of  the  Mosquito  king,  which,  but  for  the  dispersion  to  CaK 
fornia,  would  interest  us  little  more  than  would  those  of  the  King  of  Bantam. 
The  colonial  system  is  with  us,  as  with  all,  the  avenue  to  war,  because  it 

tends  to  diminish  the  value  of  labour  and  land.  # 

When  we  look  to  the  internal  condition  of  those  nations  that,  from  an  anx- 
ietv  for  “  ships,  colonies,  and  commerce/'  have  been  always  engaged  in  wars, 
we  find  it  a  scene  of  universal  discord.  Louis  Philippe  maintained  fleets 
and  armies,  engaged  at  one  time  in  the  subjugation  of  Algeria,  and  at  others 
in  the  seizure  of  Tahiti,  and  in  similar  enterprises  elsewhere.  The  unpro¬ 
ductive  class  increased  in  numbers,  and  the  burden  to  be  borne  by  the  pro¬ 
ductive  class  increased  in  weight  until  the  explosion  of  1848,  loliowed  by 
barricades  of  towns,  and  by  a  series  of  disturbances  producing  *a  necessity 
for  increasing  still  further  the  number  of  unproductive.  consumers,  men  car¬ 
rying  muskets,  required  to  secure  the  maintenance  of  internal  peace.  Eng¬ 
land  maintains  large  fleets  and  armies  for  the  protection  of  commerce  and 
colonies,  and  her  whole  empire  is  “  a  scene  of  rude  commotion.  At  home, 
we  see  her  chartists  attempting  revolution;  in  Ireland,  monster  meetings 
and  efforts  at  separation,  followed  by  appeals  to  arms ;  m  Canada,  efforts  at 
revolution,  followed  by  the  present  determination  to  effect  peaceable  separa¬ 
tion  *  in  the  West  Indies,  universal  discord  among  the  employers  and  the 
employed ;  in  India,  perpetual  difficulties,  and  everywhere  a  necessity  tor 
maintaining  large  armies  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  internal  peace,  or,  in 
other  words,  for  preventing  those  who  have  property  from  being  plundered  by 
those  who  have  it  not,  and  enabling  those  who  are  strong  to  tax  those  who 

With  the  gradual  diminution  in  the  productive  power  of  the  people  of 
England,  we  see  an  increase  of  discord  between  the  employers  and  the  _env 
ployed  ;  strikes  becoming  more  numerous,  and  accompanied  by  more  serious 
results,  the  destruction  of  buildings  and  machinery  being  added  to  the  injury 
resulting  from  long  suspensions  of  labour.  In  Scotland,  the  population  of 
whole  districts  is  expelled  to  make  way  for  sheep,  while  other  districts  pre¬ 
sent  to  view  outrages  similar  to  those  exhibited  m  the  lands  further  South. 
In  Ireland,  we  see  a  scene  of  almost  universal  war,  the  land-holder  m  one 
place  expelling  his  tenants  and  destroying  their  houses*,.  while  m  thousands 
of  others  tenants  are  seen  carrying  off  and  secreting  their  crops,  to  avoid  the 

^  if  we  look  at  home,  we  see  similar  events  resulting  from  every  attempt  to 
throw  down  the  barrier  of  protection  and  assimilate  our  system  to  that  which 
has  produced  the  ruin  of  the  British  colonies.  At  no  period  of  our  history 
has  there  prevailed  such  universal  discord  among  employers  and  employed 
as  during  the  last  few  years  of  the  Compromise  act.  The  productiveness  ot 
labour  was,  as  we  have  seen,  gradually  diminishing,  and  the  employers  were 
unable  to  pay  to  the  employed  such  wages  as  would  enable  them  to  obtain 
the  same  amount  of  conveniences  and  comforts  as  they  had  before  eiOTed* 
The  year  that  has  now  closed  has  been  signalized  by  the  same  state  ot  things 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


153 


throughout  the  coal  region,  as  labour  became  less  productive.  At  one  time 
we  have  had  turn-outs  among  coal  operators,  and  at  another  among  miners 
and  labourers,  and  the  result  has  been  that  the  year  has  been  one  of  almost 
total  loss. 

If  we  compare  with  this  the  period  that  elapsed  between  1844  and  1847, 
we  see  in  the  latter  a  steady  increase  in  the  productive  power,  attended  by  an 
increasing  tendency  to  harmony  among  employers  and  employed,  the  natural 
result  of  improvement  of  condition. 

The  exhaustion  resulting  from  the  maintenance  of  the  colonial  system  thus 
produces  a  tendency  to  turbulence  and  radicalism  that  compels  the  mainte¬ 
nance  of  armies,  followed  by  further  exhaustion,  and  all  the  injurious  results 
are  borne  by  labour  and  land.  Consumption  cannot  exceed  production,  and 
whatever  decreases  the  proportion  which  hands  to  produce  bear  to  mouths  to 
be  fed  and  backs  to  be  clothed,  diminishes  the  share  of  food  and  clothing  that  falls 
to  each.  England  now  raises  almost  seventy  millions  of  taxes,  very  many  of 
which  are  required  for  the  payment  of  those  employed  in  the  work  of  collecting 
the  remaining  millions  that  are  paid  into  the  treasury.  To  these  millions  raised 
by  the  State  must  now  be  added  eight  millions  for  the  support  of  one-ninth  of 
the  population  of  England  who  are  paupers,  and  many  more  for  the  support  of 
the  paupers  of  Ireland.  Here  is  a  burden  of  above  four  hundred  millions 
of  dollars,  the  whole  weight  of  which  is  to  be  borne  by  the  labour  and  land 
of  England  and  of  the  world,  and  ultimately  by  her  land  alone.  The  people 
can  fly,  but  the  land  cannot.  The  power  to  pay  rent  depends  upon  the  power 
to  make  the  land  produce,  and,  as  that  increases  with  increase  of  numbers, 
and  improvement  in  the  physical,  moral,  and  intellectual  condition  of  the 
labourer,  it  diminishes  with  diminution  of  numbers  and  deterioration  of  con¬ 
dition.  In  the  three  years  ending  with  1845,  the  consumption  of  spirits, 
domestic  and  colonial,  amounted  to  .  .  .  .  23,422,295  galls. 

In  the  three  years  ending  in  1848,  it  was  .  .  .  25,326,861*  “ 

showing  a  tendency  to  inebriation  increasing  with  the  diminishing  power  to 
obtain  in  return  for  labour  a  suitable  reward. 

Demoralization  produces  pauperism,  and  pauperism  increases  demoraliza¬ 
tion,  and  the  inebriate  paupers  must  be  supported  out  of  the  products  of  the 
land.  The  surplus  food  of  Russia  has  diminished  cultivation  in  Ireland,  and 
has,  of  course,  diminished  production.  England  is  now  overrun  with  Irish 
labourers  and  paupers,  and  what  has  happened  in  Ireland  must  follow  in 
England.  More  corn  will  continue  to  be  imported,  and  more  cotton  goods 
will  be  exported ;  but  the  products  of  the  land,  out  of  which  rent  and  taxes 
are  to  be  paid,  will  diminish,  and,  while  the  mouths  to  be  fed  will  increase 
in  number,  the  food  with  which  they  are  to  be  fed  will  continue  to  diminish 
in  quantity.  The  corn-laws  constituted  the  barrier  of  the  land-holders  of 
England  against  the  effects  of  the  system  by  which  England  was  deteriorat¬ 
ing  the  value  of  labour  and  land  throughout  the  world.  Their  abolition  tends 
to  bring  it  daily  more  and  more  upon  themselves,  and  the  only  remedy  is  to 
be  found  in  the  abolition  of  the  colonial  system  and  the  suppression  of  the 
fleets  and  armies  which  its  existence  renders  necessary.  The  diminution  of 
unproductive  consumers  will  be  attended  by  an  increase  of  productive  ones, 
and  the  exports  of  England  will  then  again  represent  home-grown  food,  to 
be  returned  in  sugar,  tea,  coffee,  and  cotton,  and  writh  every  step  in  that  di¬ 
rection  the  necessity  for  taxes  will  diminish,  and  the  power  to  pay  them  will 
increase. 

If  we  look  at  home,  we  see  a  tendency  to  increase  in  the  necessity  for  taxa- 


*  This  fact  is  adduced  by  the  Edinburgh  Review ,  July,  1849,  as  one  of  the  evidences 
of  the  advantage  resulting  from  free  trade. 


154 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


tion  with  every  step  towards  subjection  to  the  colonial  system,  and  dimi¬ 
nished  tendency  thereto  as  we  move  in  the  opposite  direction.  The  ex¬ 
penses  of  the  government  under  the  administration  of  Mr.  Monroe  averaged 
thirteen  millions.  Those  of  the  administration  of  Mr.  Adams  averaged  little 
over  twelve  millions.  During  the  existence  of  the  tariff  of  1828,  and  in  the 
early  period  of  the  Compromise,  we  find  the  expenditure  maintained  at  thir¬ 
teen  millions,  but  with  the  gradual  dispersion  of  population  we  arrive  at 
the  Florida  war,  and  an  expenditure  of  thirty,  thirty-seven,  and  thirty-three 
millions  in  three  successive  years,  and  afterwards  falling  gradually  until  we 
find  it  at  twenty  millions  in  the  period  of  1843  to  1844.  With  the  adop¬ 
tion  of  free-trade  doctrines,  we  find  an  increasing  tendency  to  war,  and  the 
expenditure  rising  to  sixty  millions.  Looking  at  all  these  facts,  it  is  difficult 
to  arrive  at  any  other  conclusion  than  that  protection  tends  to  increase  the 
demand  for  spades  arid  ploughs,  and  the  reward  of  labour,  and  to  diminish 
that  demand  for  swords  and  muskets  which  leads  to  the  destruction  of  both 
the  labourer  and  the  plough.  The  friend  of  peace  is  therefore  directly 
interested  in  the  destruction  of  the  English  monopoly  of  machinery. 

If  protection  be  a  war  upon  labour  and  capital,  we  should  find  it  attended 
with  diminished  production  and  increased  expenditures.  If,  on  the  contrary, 
it  be,  as  its  name  imports,  protection  to  both  labourer  and  capitalist,  tending 
to  augment  the  value  of  the  labourer,  then  it  should  be  attended  with  in¬ 
creased  production  and  diminished  expenditure.  We  have  now  before  us 
the  fact,  that,  while  the  government,  from  1824  to  1833,  was  administered 
at  about  one  dollar  per  head,  the  cost  of  administration  rose  in  the  free-trade 
period  to  more  than  two  dollars,  to  fall  again  to  one  in  the  period  of  pro¬ 
tection,  and  to  rise  to  almost  three  in  the  present  free-trade  one.*  Protection 
looks  homeward.  Free  trade,  under  existing  circumstances,  looks  abroad,  and 
needs  fleets  and  armies,  with  hosts  of  officers,  great  custom-houses  and  ware¬ 
houses,  branch  mints  in  California  and  New  York,  ministers  plenipotentiary 
and  charges  without  number  abroad,  and  hosts  of  officers  at  home,  to  be  sup¬ 
ported  out  of  the  proceeds  of  labour  and  land.  The  one  looks  to  cheap  and 
good  government )  the  other  to  a  splendid  one,  profitable  to  the  governors, 
but  fatal  to  the  governed. 

We  have  seen  that  under  protection  the  value  of  labour  at  home  has  in¬ 
creased,  and  that  therewith  there  has  been  an  increase  in  the  power  of  con¬ 
suming  foreign  commodities,  such  as  we  do  not  ourselves  produce.  We  have 
also  seen  that  while  it  tends  to  increase  the  importation  of  people  from  abroad, 
it  tends  likewise  to  facilitate  the  transmission  to  Europe  of  our  bulky  com¬ 
modities,  by  enabling  us  to  send  them  at  almost  nominal  freights,  and  that 
thus,  while  it  raises  the  value  of  labour  throughout  the  world  by  diminishing 
the  number  of  persons  seeking  employment,  it  also  raises  it  by  enabling  those 
who  remain  abroad  to  obtain  sugar,  cotton,  coffee,  and  the  other  productions 
of  the  West,  at  diminished  cost.  The  way  to  promote  harmony  among 
nations,  and  in  the  bosom  of  nations,  is  to  increase  the  value  of  man,  and 
such  has  been,  and  must  continue  to  be  the  result  of  protection.  That  object 
once  accomplished,  all  necessity  for  custom-houses,  whether  for  protection  or 
for  revenue,  will  cease. 


The  man  who  contributes  to  the  support  of  war  makes  war,  and  if  he  does 
it  voluntarily  he  is  accountable  for  the  results  thereof  in  the  deterioration  and 

*  Independently  of  the  amount  of  money  paid  for  the  expenses  of  the  Mexican  war 
and  the  purchase  of  California,  ninety  thousand  land  warrants  have  been  issued  to  sol¬ 
diers  who  served  in  the  war,  giving  to  them  as  bounty  13,800,000  acres.  Estimating 
this  land  at  the  government  price,  $1  25  an  acre,  we  have  an  aggregate  of  $17,230,000. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


155 


destruction  of  his  fellow-men.  Of  all  the  people  of  the  world,  there  are  none 
who  have  contributed  so  largely  as  ourselves  to  the  maintenance  of  the  fleets 
and  armies  by  which  Ireland  has  been  ruined,  and  war  has  been  carried 
throughout  Europe  and  Asia.  So  far  as  we  have  done  this  voluntarily,  we 
are  as  much  responsible  for  the  destruction  of  life  and  property  in  China, 
Scinde,  Affghanistan,  and  the  Punjaub,  as  the  men  by  whose  command  these 
things  were  done. 

We  have  seen  that  England  produces  little  to  export,  yet  is  she  enabled  to 
consume  much.  The  producer  obtains  little  for  his  cotton,  yet  the  labourer 
obtains  little  clothing  for  the  time  employed  in  converting  the  cotton  into 
cloth.  The  sugar-planter  obtains  little  iron  for  his  sugar,  yet  the  miner  has 
little  sugar  for  his  labour.  The  tobacco-grower  has  little  cloth  for  his  pro¬ 
duct,  but  the  spinner  can  consume  little  tobacco.  The  reason  for  all  this  is 
to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  between  the  consumer  and  the  producer  stands  a 
host  of  exchangers,  the  greatest  of  which  is  that  which  collects  taxes  to  be 
paid  out  for  the  support  of  fleets  and  armies.  Every  pound  of  cotton  that  travels 
on  an  English  railway,  contributes  its  proportion  to  the  £108,000  of  taxes 
paid  by  the  single  London  and  North-western  railway,  the  £68,000  paid  by 
the  Great  Western,*  or  some  other  of  the  immense  sums  paid  by  other  rail¬ 
ways.  Every  pound  of  tobacco  pays  3s.  =  72  cents,  towards  the  mainte¬ 
nance  of  the  fleets  and  armies  of  Great  Britain,  in  addition  to  its  share  of  the 
taxes  on  warehouses,  bills  of  exchange,  promissory  notes,  and  of  the  thousand 
other  taxes  paid  by  the  various  persons  who  stand  between  the  producer  and 
the  consumer.  These  men  produce  nothing  themselves,  and  their  taxes  must 
be  paid  for  them  by  the  land  and  labour  that  do  produce — whether  it  be 
foreign  or  domestic. 

England  is  now  the  great  war-making  power  of  the  world.  It  is  by  means 
of  the  monopoly  of  machinery  for  the  production  of  iron,  and  for  the  conver¬ 
sion  of  cotton  into  cloth,  that  she  is  enabled  to  tax  the  world  for  the  mainte¬ 
nance  of  her  fleets  and  armies, f  for  the  prosecution  of  those  wars.  To  destroy 
her  power  to  make  war  would  be  to  bring  about  peace.  Protection  tends  to 
limit  her  power  to  tax  the  farmers  and  planters  of  the  world,  and  thus  to 
limit  her  power  to  raise  revenue  for  the  payment  of  soldiers  and  sailors,  while 
it  tends  to  raise  the  value  of  man,  and  thus  make  soldiers  and  sailors  more 
costly.  In  both  ways  it  tends  to  diminish  the  power  to  maintain  fleets  and 
armies,  and  to  promote  the  maintenance  of  peace.  Every  friend  of  peace  is 
therefore  bound  to  use  his  efforts  for  the  destruction  of  the  monopoly  system. 

The  London  Times  recently  published,  with  approbation,  a  letter  from  the 
East  Indies — from  a  British  officer  engaged  in  the  battle  of  Goodjerat,  from 
which  the  following  is  an  extract.  It  is  deserving  the  careful  consideration 
of  every  man  who  has  heretofore  aided  in  the  maintenance  of  the  system  : — 

“  The  enemy  were  in  the  sands  trying  to  escape,  and  our  men  knocking  them  over  like 
dogs.  .  .  Some  of  our  men  screamed  out,  ‘  They  are  off!’  Fordyce’s  troops  went  off  at  a 
gallop,  our  men  giving  them  three  cheers — such  cheers — it  was  a  perfect  scream  of  delight 
and  eagerness !  and  you  may  be  sure  I  assisted  and  yelled  till  I  was  hoarse  !  .  .  .  Every 
wounded  Sikh  was  either  shot  or  bayoneted  (! !)  .  .  I  rushed  up  with  a  few  of  the 
grenadiers,  and  found  four  men  re-loading  their  pieces ;  three  were  bayoneted,  and  I  was 
hacking  away  at  the  head  of  the  fourth,  when  Compton,  of  the  grenadiers,  shot  him.  The 


*  North  British  Review,  August,  1849. 

j-  Sir  Charles  Napier  has  addressed  a  letter  to  the  public,  which  fills  five  closely 
printed  columns  of  the  Times,  upon  the  subject  of  the  navy  and  its  expenses.  The  sum 
and  substance  of  what  he  says  seems  to  be,  “  that  we  have  spent  about  ninety  millions 
sterling  during  the  last  twenty-eight  years  in  rebuilding  our  navy  twice  over,  and  now  we 
cannot  even  find  the  fragments.”  Such  are  the  results  of  the  system  of  “  ships,  colonies, 
and  commerce.” 


156 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


last  shot  was  fired  at  an  unfortunate  Goorer  in  the  camp  when wa  ^  cat  yo„  th°, 

their  Grunth!  ...  We  waited  at  this  place  about  two  hours,  and .1  can  assure  you  ^ 
were  about  the  jollkst  two  hours  I  ever  passed.  I  never  enjoyed  a  bottle  b.er  so  mu 

in  all  my  life !” 

CHAPTER  NINETEENTH. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  THE  EXCHANGER. 

The  exchanger  stands  between  the  producer  and  the  consumer.  He  him¬ 
self  produces  nothing,  although  consuming  much,  in  exchange  for  whic 
SvesPonlY  services.  He  buy!  a  bale  of  cloth  and  divides  it  among  the  cop- 
fumers  giving  a  piece  to  one  and  a  yard  to  another,  but  he  makes  no 
change  in  the  quantity  or  quality  of  the  commodities  that  pass  through  his 
hands  The  hlle  of  doth  would  clothe  as  many  men,  and  the  cargo  of  flour 
would  feed  as  many,  without  his  services,  as  with  them.  Nevertheless,  the 
exchan ‘er  takes  rank  before  the  producer.  The  merchants  of  London,  of 
New  York  and  of  Boston,  have  more  influence  over  the  action  of  govern 
ment,  and ’over  public  opinion,  than  twenty,  fifty,  or  even  one  hundred  times 
the  number  of  men  whose  every  hour  is  given  to  increasing  the  quantity  and 
improving  the  quality  of  things  necessary  to  the  use  ot  man. 

The  reason  that  such  is  the  case  is  that  the  present  system  of  trade  tends 
to  increase  the  necessities  of  the  producers  for  going  to  distant  markets,  and 
to  dimhdsh  their  power  so  to  do."  When  the  producer  of  iron  akes  his  p  ace 
bv  the  side  of  his  producer  of  food,  the  latter  exchanges  his  potatoes,  his  ca b- 
bLes  his  veal,  his  milk,  and  his  butter,  directly  with  the  former,  and  obtains 
his^ iron  at  little  cost  of  labour.  He  is  thereby  enabled  to  improve  his  wagon 
and  his  roads,  and  to  go  to  market  cheaply,  thus  increasing  his  powers  w 
diminishing  his  necessities.  The  more  distant  the  consumer  and  the  producer 
the  greater° must  be  the  quantity  of  machinery  of  exchange,  and  the  poorer 
must  be  its  quality,  and  every  such  change  in  regard  to  either  tends  to  the 

imnovenshment  of  the  farmer  and  plantei.  »  j 

Such  tog  the  case,  it  might  be  supposed  that  here  was  a  case  of  discord. 
The  exchangers  would  suffer  by  the  adoption  of  measures  tending  to  bring 
thef consumers*  to'\ake  their  places  by  eJk  other  Directly  the  reverse^  how- 
ever  is  the  fact.  The  quantity  to  be  exchanged  depends  on  the  extent  ot 
the  ’surplus  that  is  produced,  and  that  increases  with  prodigious  rapidity  as 
the  power  of  production  is  increased.  The  man  who  produces  no  more  food 
than"  is  absolutely  necessary  for  his  own  consumption,  lias  nothing  to 
for  cloth  or  iron.  Once  fed,  lie  may  exchange  the  whole  surplus,  whatever 
it  be,  and  therefore  it  is  that  the  amount  of  exchanges  increases  with  such 
wonderful  rapidity  when  production  increases,  as  was  the  case  from  1843  ■ 

18The  larger  the  return  to  labour  applied  to  production,  the  less  must  be  the 
necessity  for  seeking  employment  in  the  work  of  exchange,  and  the  less  will 
“  competition  in  trade.  Our  cities  are  filled  with  young  men  from  the 
country  who  would  have  remained  at  home  among  parents  and  friends,  had 
the  cotton  or  woollens  factory,  the  furnace  or  the  rolling-mill,  been  there  to 
rive  them  employment;  but  as  it  was  not  there,  they  have  been  compelled 
to  add  themselves  to  the  already  almost  infinite  number :  of  clerk s,  hop >  g, 
and  vainly  hoping,  to  obtain  stores  or  shops  for  themselves.  By  bringing 
the  consumer  to  the  side  of  the  producer,  such  young  men  would,  ra  future, 
remain  at  home  to  swell  the  number  of  producers,  and  to  increase s  the  amount 
of  production,  enabling  each  exchanger  to  perform  a  larger  amount  of  busi^ 

ness,  and  to  grow  rich  with  the  same  rate  of  commission  that  now  keeps  him 
poor 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


157 


it  is  asserted  that  of  all  the  persons  engaged  in  trade,  iti  our  cities,  four- 
fifths  fail.  The  cause  is  to  he  found  in  the  fact  that  so  many  are  forced 
into  trade,  for  want  of  being  enabled  to  apply  themselves  to  production,  and 
that  when  there  they  are  exposed  to  the  effects  of  the  enormous  changes 
which  result  from  the  existence  of  the  English  monopoly  system.  Iron 
sells  at  one  time  at  ten  pounds,  and  soon  after  at  five.  The  man  of  small 
capital,  who  has  a  stock  on  hand,  is  ruined.  Cottons  and  woollens  change  in 
like  manner.  At  one  moment  England  desires  to  sell  iron  and  cloth  in  ex¬ 
change  for  certificates  of  debt,  and  money  is  said  to  be  plenty.  At  the  next, 
she  asks  to  be  paid,  and  money  becomes  scarce.  The  little  capitalist  is 
ruined  by  the  change.  The  consequence  is,  that  our  cities  are  filled  with 
men  who  have  adventured  in  trade,  and  failed. 

In  England,  these  disastrous  effects  are  far  more  widely  felt.  The  country 
is  filled  with  young  men  anxious  to  be  employed  in  any  department  of 
trade,  for  in  the  work  of  production  can  be  found  no  demand  for  time  or 
mind,  unless  accompanied  with  large  capital.  The  consequence  is  a  perpe¬ 
tual  strife  for  obtaining  even  the  means  of  subsistence,  among  shopmen, 
clerks,  and  journeymen,*  while  the  unceasing  changes  carry  ruin,  at  brief 
intervals,  among  the  employers.  The  last  three  years  have  seen  to  disappear 
a  large  number  of  the  principal  trading  firms  in  the  kingdom,  and  the 
exhibits  they  have  made  of  their  affairs  afford  proof  conclusive  of  the  ruinous 
character  of  the  system.  In  Liverpool,  at  one  time,  there  were  7000  houses 
and  stores  unoccupied.  What  had  become  of  those  who  had  been  their  occu¬ 
pants  ? 

The  tendency  of  the  whole  system  is  to  produce  a  necessity  for  trade,  and 
to  diminish  the  power  to  maintain  trade.  “  Commerce,”  there,  u  is  king,” 
and  like  other  kings,  he  is  exhausting  his  own  subjects.  Having  plundered 
and  ruined  India,  the  West  Indies,  Ireland,  Portugal,  and  all  other  countries 
subject  to  his  control,  he  is  now  doing  the  same  at  home.  With  every  step 
he  is  diminishing  the  power  of  applying  labour  to  production,  and  increasing 
the  necessity  for  looking  to  trade  as  the  only  means  of  employing  time, 
talent,  or  capital,  with  constantly  decreasing  return  to  all ;  and  hence  it  is 
that  so  large  a  portion  of  the  people  of  the  United  Kingdom  desire  to  escape 
to  other  lands,  where  Commerce,  finding  in  agriculture  and  manufactures  his 
equals,  cannot  be  king.  In  his  proper  place  he  is  most  useful,  but  as 
master  he  has  always  proved  a  tyrant  worse  than  any  recorded  even  in  the 
annals  of  Home.  The  object  of  the  colonial  system  was  that  of  making 
him  master,  and  its  effects  are  now  felt  at  home  as  well  as  abroad.  The 
object  of  protection  is  to  put  an  end  to  his  tyranny,  and  to  bring  him  back 
to  his  true  condition ;  and  among  the  whole  people  there  are  none  whose 
interests  are  more  to  be  promoted  by  the  accomplishment  of  that  object  than 
those  who  are  now  engaged  in  commerce,  because  with  every  step  it  will  in¬ 
crease  the  amount  of  exchanges  to  be  performed,  without  a  corresponding 
increase  in  the  number  of  exchangers. 


*  “  Fourteen  hundred  tailors  are  now  in  London  totally  unemployed,  and  hundreds  daily 
applying  for  relief  to  the  houses  of  call;  the  funds  are,  however,  exhausted.  Nine  hun¬ 
dred  shoemakers  out  of  work  have  their  names  on  the  books,  and  seventeen  hundred  are 
working  for  half  wages.  The  curriers  and  leather-dressers  are  in  the  same  situation. 
There  were  never  known  so  many  working  jewellers  out  of  employ,  and  meetings  of  the 
trade  are  now  holding  to  petition  parliament  for  protection  against  the  competition  of 
foreign  labour.” — Morning  Post. 


158 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


CHAPTER  TWENTIETH. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  WOMAN. 

With  every  increase  in  the  value  of  labour  and  land,  the  condition  of 
woman  is  improved.  With  every  improvement  in  her  condition,  she  has 
more  leisure  to  devote  to  the  care  of  her  children,  and  to  fitting  them  worthily 
to  fill  their  station  in  society,  giving  value  to  labour  and  land.  If  protection 
be  “  a  war  upon  labour  and  capital/’  it  must  tend  to  diminution  in  the 
value  of  labour  and  land,  and  to  deterioration  in  the  condition  of  the  weaker 
sex.  How  far  that  is  the  case  we  may  now  examine. 

Throughout  a  large  portion  of  this  country,  the  time  of  women  is  almost 
entirely  valueless.  They  would  gladly  work  if  they  could,  but  there  is  no 
employment  but  that  on  the  farm,  for  which  they  are  not  fitted.  Place 
in  every  county  of  the  Union  a  mill,  and  there  will  thus  be  produced  a  demand 
for  that  now  surplus  labour,  and  the  workers  in  the  mill  will  obtain  more 
and  better  food  and  clothing,  and  they  will  be  able  to  obtain  more  and  better 
clothing,  and  education,  and  books  by  which  to  improve  their  minds,  and  fit 
them  to  fill  the  station  of  mothers,  to  which  they  will  then  be  called.  For 
want  of  local  employment  the  young  men  are  forced  to  seek  the  cities,  or  to 
fly  to  the  West,  and  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  women  remain  at 
home  unmarried,  while  other  thousands  also  seek  the  cities  in  search  of  em¬ 
ployment,  and  terminate  their  career  as  prostitutes,  because  unable  to  com¬ 
pete  with  the  “  cheap”  labour  of  the  unhappy  subjects  of  the  following  arti¬ 
cle,  which  I  take  from  one  of  the  newspapers  of  the  day : — 

“  The  distressed  needle- women  of  London  have  been  made  the  object  of  a  commission 
of  inquiry  instituted  by  the  Morning  Chronicle.  Three  gentlemen  well  known  in  litera¬ 
ture  have  examined  the  state  of  this  unfortunate  class,  and  the  result  is,  that  there  lives  in 
London  a  body  of  about  33,000  women  permanently  at  the  starvation  point;  working  at 
the  wages  of  a  few  pence  a  day. 

“  The  greater  portion  of  these  poor  creatures,  living,  as  they  do,  far  beyond  the  social 
state,  resort  to  prostitution,  as  a  means  of  eking  out  their  miserable  subsistence  ;  whenever 
the  pressure  threatens  their  extinction,  then  they  turn  into  the  street,  and  pauperism  runs 
into  inevitable  vice.  Since  the  disclosures  of  the  Morning  Chronicle,  many  humane 
persons  have  forwarded  considerable  sums  of  money  to  the  office  of  that  journal  for  dis¬ 
tribution  among  the  most  necessitous  objects ;  and  Mr.  Sidney  Herbert  has  come  forward 
to  found  a  society  for  promoting  their  emigration.  There  is  something  like  half  a  million 
of  women  in  excess  of  men  in  Great  Britain  ;  there  is  a  corresponding  excess  of  males  in 
the  British  Australian  Colonies.  The  society  above  mentioned  aims  to  bring  these  mar¬ 
riageable  parties  in  contact;  and  it  is  hoped,  that  when  once  it  is  in  operation,  govern¬ 
ment  will  assist  it  with  funds.  It  costs  some  £15  to  transport  a  passenger  to  Australia. 
Now,  if  private  benevolence  raises  a  sum  of  £30,000,  this  will  only  relieve  2000  of  the 
sufferers  :  a  mere  fraction,  whose  absence  would  not  be  sensible  in  the  metropolis.  It 
would  require  ten  times  that  amount  to  lade  out  the  misery  to  the  proper  extent,  and  also 
to  satisfy  the  wants  of  the  colonists.” 

u  Commerce  is  king,”  and  such  are  his  female  subjects.  To  the  same 
level  must  fall  all  those  who  are  under  the  necessity  of  competing  with  them, 
and  such  are  even  now  the  results  of  the  approach  to  the  system  that  looks  to 
the  maintenance  of  the  English  monopoly  as  being  freedom  of  trade.  The 
compensation  for  female  labour  is  miserably  small,  even  now,  but  it  must  fall 
far  lower  when  we  shall  be  called  upon  to  settle  the  account  for  the  modicum 
of  iron,  wool,  silk,  and  earthenware  that  we  receive  in  exchange  for  all  our 
cotton,  tobacco,  rice,  flour,  pork,  cheese,  butter,  and  evidences  of  debt. 


u  So  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  in  the  image  of  God  created  he 
him )  male  and  female  created  he  them.  And  God  blessed  them  and  said 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


159 


unto  them.  Be  fruitful  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth  and  sub¬ 
due  it.” 

Such  was  the  first  command  of  God  to  man  on  earth,  and,  as  he  does  or 
does  not  comply  with  it,  he  is  found  a  moral  or  immoral  being.  If  the  as¬ 
sociation  of  man  with  his  fellow-man  tend  to  the  elevation  of  character  and 
to  the  promotion  of  civilization,  how  infinitely  more  is  such  the  result  of  that 
intimate  association  resulting  from  obedience  to  the  command,  “Be  fruitful 
and  multiply.”  The  relation  of  husband  and  wife,  and  that  of  parent  and 
child,  are  both  essential  to  the  development  of  all  that  is  good  and  kind,  gen¬ 
tle  and  thoughtful.  The  desire  to  provide  for  the  wife  and  the  child  prompts 
the  husband  to  labour,  for  the  purpose  of  acquiring  the  means  of  present  sup¬ 
port,  and  to  economy  as  a  means  of  preparation  for  the  future.  The  desire 
to  provide  for  the  husband  and  the  children  prompts  the  wife  to  exertions 
that  would  otherwise  have  been  deetHed  impossible,  and  to  sacrifices  that 
none  but  a  wife  or  a  mother  could  make. 

The  modern  school  of  political  economy  says,  “Be  not  fruitful;  do  not  mul¬ 
tiply.  Population  tends  to  increase  faster  than  food.”  It  prescribes  disobe¬ 
dience  to  the  earliest  of  God's  commands.  Obedience  thereto,  in  those  who 
are  poor,  is  denounced  as  improvidence ;  and  to  those  who  are  so  improvi¬ 
dent  as  to  marry,  “  with  no  provision  for  the  future,  no  sure  and  ample  sup¬ 
port  even  for  the  present,”  it  is  thought  “  important  to  pronounce  distinctly 
that,  on  no  principle  of  social  right  or  justice,  have  they  any  claim  to  share 
the  earnings  or  the  savings  of  their  more  prudent,  more  energetic,  more  self- 
denying  fellow-citizens.”*  To  have  a  wife  for  whom  to  labour,  and  with  whom 
to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  labour,  is  a  luxury,  abstinence  from  which  is  placed 
high  among  the  virtues.  To  have  children  to  develope  all  the  kindly  and  pro¬ 
vident  feelings  of  the  parents,  is  a  crime  worthy  of  punishment.  Charity 
is  denounced  as  tending  to  promote  the  growth  of  population.  To  rent  land 
at  less  than  the  full  price,  is  an  error,  because  it  tends  to  increase  the  num¬ 
ber  to  be  fed.  To  clear  the  land  of  thousands  whose  ancestors  have  lived  and 
died  on  the  spot,  is  “  improvement.”  Cottage  allotments  are  but  places  for 
breeding  paupers. 

Southey  denounced  the  Byronian  school  of  poetry  as  “  satanic,”  and  so 
may  we  fairly  do  with  the  school  of  political  economy  that  has  grown  out 
of  the  colonial  system,  and  the  desire  to  make  of  England  “  the  work-shop 
of  the  world.”  It  teaches  every  thing  but  Christianity,  and  that  any  feel¬ 
ings  of  kindness  towards  those  who  are  so  unfortunate  as  to  be  poor  should 
still  remain  in  England,  is  due  to  the  fact  that  those  who  teach  it  have  not 
in  their  doctrine  sufficient  faith  to  practise  what  they  preach. 

The  direct  tendency  of  the  existing  monopoly  of  machinery  which  it  is 
the  object  of  free  trade  to  maintain,  is  towards  barbarism.  It  drives  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  Englishmen  to  abandon  mothers,  wives,  and  sisters,  and  bar¬ 
barize  themselves  in  the  wilderness,  while  of  those  who  remain  behind  a  large 
portion  are  too  poor  to  marry,  the  consequences  of  which  are  seen  in  the 
immense  extent  of  prostitution  and  the  perpetual  occurrence  of  child  murder. 
In  this  country  it  is  the  same.  Of  the  almost  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men 
who  have  fled  to  the  wilds  of  Oregon  or  California,  a  vast  portion  would  have 
remained  at  home  with  mothers  and  sisters  had  the  consumer  been  allowed 
to  take  his  place  by  the  side  of  the  producer,  as  he  would  long  since  have 
done,  but  for  the  existence  of  this  most  unnatural  system. 

Among  the  women  of  the  world,  there  is  a  perfect  harmony  of  interests. 
It  is  to  the  interest  of  all  that  the  condition  of  all  should  be  elevated,  and 
such  must  be  the  result  of  an  increase  in  the  value  of  labour.  The  object 


*  Edinburgh  Review,  October,  1849. 


160 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


of  protection  is  that  of  raising  throughout  the  world  the  value  of  man,  and 
thus  improving  the  condition  of  woman.  Every  woman,  therefore,  who  has 
at  heart  the  elevation  of  her  fellow-women  throughout  the  world,  should 
advocate  the  cause  of  protection. 

CHAPTER  TWENTY-FIRST. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  MORALS. 

The  moral  man  is  sensible  of  the  duties  he  owes  to  his  wife,  his  children, 
society,  and  himself.  He  frequents  neither  taverns  nor  gaming-houses.  His 

^The  more  perfect  the  morality  the  more  productive  will  he  the  labour  of  a 
community,  and  the  greater  will  be  the  power  of  .its  members  to  improve 
their  moral  and  intellectual  condition.  If  protection  be  “  a  war  upon  labour 
and  capital,”  it  must  tend  to  the  deterioration  of  morality  and  the  diminu¬ 
tion  of  the  reward  of  labour.  .  _ 

The  more  equal  the  division  of  a  community  between  the  sexes,  the  greater 

will  be  the  power  to  contract  matrimony,  and  the  higher  will  be  morality. 
The  monopoly  system  tends  to  expel  the  men  and  produce  inequality  in  the 
number  of  the  sexes,  and  thus  to  diminish  the  power  to  contract  matrimony, 
thereby  producing  a  tendency  to  immorality.  The  object  of  protection  is  to 
enable  men  to  remain  at  home,  and  thus  bring  about  equality,  which  cannot 

exist  where  the  tendency  to  dispersion  exists.  , 

The  more  men  can  remain  at  home,  the  better  they  can  perform  their  du¬ 
ties  to  their  children.  The  monopoly  system  tends  to  compel  them  to  per¬ 
form  their  exchanges  in  distant  markets  and  to  separate  themselves  trom 
wives  and  children.  The  object  of  protection  is  to  bring  the  consumer  to 
take  his  place  by  the  side  of  the  producer,  and  enable  them  to  eftect  their 

exchanges  at  home.  .  .  .  . 

The  more  directly  the  consumer  exchanges  with  the  producer,  the  less  will 

be  the  disposition  and  the  power  to  commit  frauds.  .  The  farmer  of  Illinois 
has  no  object  in  adulterating  his  corn,  because  corn  is  cheap;  but  the  miller 
of  England  mixes  beans  with  the  corn,  because  corn  is  dear.  The  planter 
of  Alabama  would  gain  nothing  by  substituting  flour  for  cotton,  because  the 
latter  is  cheap  ;  but  the  manufacturer  of  England  does  so  because  cotton  is 
dear.  The  coffee  planter  delivers  coffee.  The  English  shopkeeper  substi¬ 
tutes  chicory  for  coffee,  because  the  latter  is  dear.  The  inducement  to 
fraud  in  these  cases  results  from  the  distance  between  the  producer  and  the 
consumer,  which  it  is  the  object  of  protection  to  diminish.  The  shoemaker 
makes  good  shoes  for  his  customers  ;  but  he  makes  indifferent  ones  for  the 
traders  who  deal  with  persons  that  are  distant.  The  gunsmith  furnishes  to 
his  neighbours  guns  that  will  stand  the  proof;  but  when  he  makes  others. to 
be  sold  in  Africa,  he  cares  little  if  they  burst  at  the  first  fire.  The  necessity 
for  maintaining  the  monopoly  of  machinery  now;  enjoyed  by  England  leads 
to  frauds  and  forgeries  of  every  description,  with  a  view  to  displace  the 
foreign  produce  and  deceive  the  foreign  producer*  The  power  to  commit 

*  As  a  specimen  of  this,  I  take  the  following  from  one  of  the  journals  of  the  day  . 

«  We  are  surprised  to  see  ginghams  in  market,  sent  out  from  England  by  the  house  of 
A.  &  S.  Henry  &  Co.  of  Manchester,  imitating  the  above  goods  in  patterns,  width,  and 
style  of  finish.  But  a  most  palpable  and  unfair  imitation  is  in  the  label,  where,  preserv¬ 
ing  the  same  general  appearances  as  to  size,  colour  of  paper  and  ornaments,  the  word 
Lancasterian  is  substituted  for  Lancaster.  That  the  whole  is  a  manifest  and  intentional 
counterfeit,  there  cannot  be  a  doubt.  The  goods  will,  undoubtedly,  be  sold  for  American 
Lancaster  ginghams,  to  which  they  are  inferior  in  firmness  of  fabric  and  permanency  o 
colour,  to  the  manifest  injury  of  the  profits  and  reputation  of  the  American  manufacturer. 

—Boston  paper. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


161 


frauds  thus  results  from  the  distance  between  the  consumer  and  the  pro¬ 
ducer.  Protection  looks  to  bringing  them  near  together,  and  thus  dimi¬ 
nishing  that  power. 

The  planter  who  exchanges  on  the  spot  with  the  iron-master  and  the 
miller,  makes  large  crops  and  grows  rich,  and  the  gain  resulting  from  success¬ 
ful  frauds  would  be  trifling  compared  with  the  loss  of  character.  The  one 
who  is  distant  from  both  makes  small  crops,  which  are  sensibly  increased  in 
amount  by  the  substitution  of  stones  in  lieu  of  cotton  or  tobacco.  The 
inducement  to  commit  frauds  here  results  from  the  distance  between  the  con¬ 
sumer  and  the  producer,  and  is  diminished  as  the  loom  and  the  anvil  come 
nearer  to  the  plough  and  the  harrow. 

The  man  who  makes  his  exchanges  in  distant  markets  spends  much  time 
on  the  road  and  in  taverns,  and  is  liable  to  be  led  into  dissipation.  The 
more  he  can  effect  his  exchanges  at  home,  the  less  is  the  danger  of  any  such 
result.  The  object  of  the  monopoly  system  is  that  of  compelling  him  to 
effect  all  his  exchanges  at  a  distance,  and  to  employ  for  that  purpose  nume¬ 
rous  wagoners,  porters,  sailors,  and  other  persons,  most  of  whom  have  scarcely 
any  home  except  the  tavern. 

The  more  uniform  the  standard  of  value,  the  less  does  trade  resemble 
gambling.  The  object  of  the  monopoly  system  is  to  subject  the  produce  of 
the  world  to  a  standard  of  the  most  variable  kind,  and  to  render  agriculture, 
manufactures,  and  trade,  mere  gambling.  The  object  of  protection  is  to 
withdraw  the  produce  of  the  world  from  that  standard,  enabling  every  com¬ 
munity  to  measure  the  products  of  its  labour  by  its  own  standard,  giving 
labour  for  labour. 

The  object  of  the  English  system  is  to  promote  centralization ,  and  its 
necessary  consequence  is  that  of  compelling  the  dispersion  of  man  in 
search  of  food.*  London  and  Liverpool,  Manchester  and  Birmingham, 
have  grown  with  vast  rapidity  by  the  same  system  which  has  exhausted 
Ireland,  India,  and  the  West  Indies.  The  same  journal  informs  us  of 
the  construction  of  a  new  town  opposite  Liverpool,  of  the  great  additions 
to  London,  and  of  the  absolute  necessity  for  promoting  emigration  from  Ire¬ 
land,  Scotland,  and  even  from  England.  As  each  successive  province  is 
exhausted,  there  arises  a  desire,  and  even  a  necessity  for  adding  to  the  list. 
Bengal  and  Bombay  having  ceased  to  be  productive,  Affghanistan  is  attempted, 
and  the  Punjaub  is  conquered.  The  ruin  of  the  West  Indies  is  followed  by 
an  invasion  of  China,  for  the  purpose  of  compelling  the  Chinese  to  perfect 
freedom  of  trade.  The  Highlands  are  depopulated,  and  Australia  is  colonized. 

Mr.  Jefferson  held  great  cities  to  be  “great  sores.”  He  desired  that  the 
manufacturer  should  take  his  place  by  the  side  of  the  agriculturist — that  the 
loom  and  the  anvil  should  be  in  close  proximity  to  the  plough  and  the  harrow. 
Mr.  Jefferson  looked  and  thought  for  himself.  He  had  studied  political 
economy  before  it  became  necessary  for  Mr.  Malthus  to  invent  a  theory  of 
population  that  should  satisfactorily  account  for  the  scarcity  of  food  under 


*  “  To  those  who  have  never  reflected  on  the  subject,  it  may  seem  like  exaggeration  to 
say  that,  as  a  general  fact,  at  least  nine-tenths  of  the  lower  orders  suffer  physically, 
morally,  and  intellectually,  from  being  over-worked  and  under-fed;  and  yet  I  am  con¬ 
vinced  that  the  more  the  subject  shall  be  investigated,  the  more  deeply  shall  we  become 
impressed  with  the  truth  and  importance  of  the  statement.  It  is  true  that  but  few 
persons  die  from  direct  starvation,  or  the  absolute  want  of  food  for  several  successive 
days,  but  it  is  not  the  less  certain  that  thousands  upon  thousands  are  annually  cut  oft',  whose 
lives  have  been  greatly  shortened  by  excess  of  labour  and  deficiency  of  nourishment. 
*  *  It  is  a  rare  thing  for  a  hard-working  artisan  to  arrive  at  a  good  old  age  ;  almost  all 
become  prematurely  old,  and  die  long  before  the  natural  term  of  life.5' — Combe  s  Philosophy 
of  Digestion. 


162 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


the  unnatural  policy  of  England,  and  thus  relieve  the  law-makers  of  that 
country  from  all  charge  of  mis-government.  He  studied,,  too,  before  Mr. 
Ricardo  had  invented  a  theory  of  rent,  for  the  maintenance  of  which  it  was 
necessary  to  prove  that  the  poor  cultivator,  beginning  the  work  of  settlement, 
always  commenced  upon  the  rich  soils — the  swamps  and  river-bottoms  and 
that  with  the  progress  of  population  he  had  recourse  to  the  poor  soils  of  the 
hills,  yielding  a  constantly  diminishing  return  to  labour — and  therefore  it  was 
that  he  thought  for  himself.  Modern  financiers  have  blindly  adopted  the 
English  system,  based  on  the  theories  of  Malthus  and  Ricardo,  and  the  per¬ 
fection  of  civilization  is  now  held  to  be  found  in  that  system  which  shall 
most  rapidly  build  up  great  cities,  and  most  widely  separate  the  manufacturer 
from  the  agriculturist.  The  more  perfect  the  centralization,  the  greater, 
according  to  them,  will  be  the  tendency  towards  improvement. 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  in  favour  of  combined  action,  as  being  that  which  would 
most  tend  to  promote  human  improvement,  physical,  moral,  intellectual,  and 
political.  That  it  does  so,  would  seem  to  be  obvious,  as  it  is  where  com¬ 
bination  of  action  most  exists  that  men  live  best  and  are  best  instructed  • 
commit  least  crimes,  and  think  most  for  themselves.  There,  too,  there  exists 
the  strongest  desire  to  have  protection. 

A  recent  traveller*  in  the  United  States,  says  that  “the  facility  with  which 
every  people  conscientiously  accommodate  their  speculative  opinions  to  their 
local  and  individual  interests,  is  sufficiently  demonstrated  by  the  fact,  that 
the  several  States  and  sections  of  States,  “  as  they  successively  embark  in 
the  manufacture,  whether  of  iron,  cotton,  or  other  articles,  become  imme¬ 
diately  converts  to  protectionist  views,  against  which  they  had  previously 
declaimed.” 

It  is  here  supposed  that  the  desire  for  protection  results  from  a  selfish 
desire  to  tax  others,  but  the  persons  exclusively  devoted  to  manufactures. of 
any  kind  are  too  few  in  number  to  affect  the  elections,  and  yet  wherever  mills 
or  furnaces  are  established,  the  majority  of  the  people  become  advocates  of 
the  doctrine  of  protection,  and  that  majority  mainly  consists  of  agriculturists, 
— farmers  and  planters.  Why  it  is  so,  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that  they  ex¬ 
perience  the  benefits  resulting  from  making  a  market  on  the  land  for  the 
products  of  the  land,  and  desire  that  their  neighbours  may  do  the  same. 
Ignorant  selfishness  would  induce  them  to  desire  to  retain  tor  themselves  the 
advantage  they  had  gained.  Enlightened  selfishness  would  induce  them  to 
teach  others  that  which  they  themselves  had  learned. 

Ignorant  selfishness  is  the  characteristic  of  the  savage.  It  disappears  as 
men  acquire  the  habit  of  association  with  their  neighbour  men.  The  pro¬ 
claimed  object  of  the  monopoly  system  is  that  of  producing  a  necessity  for 
scattering  ourselves  over  large  surfaces,  and  thus  increasing  the  difficulty  of 
association,  and  the  object  is  attained.  “  The  prospect  of  heaven  itself,”  says 
Cooper,  in  one  of  his  novels,  “would  have  no  charm  for  an  American  of  the 
backwoods,  if  he  thought  there  was  anyplace  further  west.” 

Such  is  the  common  impression.  It  is  believed  that  men  separate  from 
each  other  because  of  something  in  their  composition  that  tends  to  produce  a 
desire  for  flying  to  wild  lands,  there  probably  to  perish  of  fever,  brought  on 
by  exposure,  and  certainly  to  leave  behind  them  all  that  tends  to  make  life 
desirable.  Such  is  not  the  character  of  man  anywhere.  He  is  everywhere 
disposed  to  remain  at  home,  when  he  can,  and  if  the  farmers  and  planters  of 
the  Union  can  be  brought  to  understand  their  true  interests,  at  home  he  will 
remain,  and  doing  so,  his  condition  and  that  of  all  around  him,  would  be  im- 


* 


Sir  Charles  Lyell. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


163 


proved.  The  habit  of  association  is  necessary  to  the  improvement  of  man. 
With  it  comes  the  love  of  the  good  and  the  beautiful.  “I  wish/’  says  the 
author  of  a  recent  agricultural  address,  “  that  we  could  create  a  general 
passion  for  gardening  and  horticulture.  We  want,”  he  continues,  u  more 
beauty  about  our  houses.  The  scenes  of  childhood  are  the  memories  of  our 
future  years.  Let  our  dwellings  be  beautified  with  plants  and  flowers.  Flow¬ 
ers  are,  in  the  language  of  a  late  cultivator,  1  the  playthings  of  childhood  and 
the  ornaments  of  the  grave ;  they  raise  smiling  looks  to  man  and  grateful 
ones  to  God/  ” 

We  do  want  more  beauty  about  our  houses,  and  not  only  about  our  houses 
but  about  our  minds,  and  that  it  may  be  obtained,  we  must  rid  ourselves  of 
a  system  which  makes  the  producer  the  servant  of  the  exchanger.  Such  is 
the  object  of  protection. 

It  is  most  truly  said  that  u  there  is  no  friendship  in  trade.”  As  now  carried 
on,  it  certainly  does  not  tend  to  promote  kindly  feelings  among  the  human 
race,  nor  -can  it  do  so  while  the  system  remains  unchanged.  The  great 
object  of  traders  appears  to  be  the  production  of  discord.  By  so  doing, 
England  has  obtained  the  supreme  control  of  India.  Her  journals  are  un¬ 
ceasingly  engaged  in  sowing  discord  among  the  various  portions  of  this  Union, 
and  the  effort  would  be  successful  were  it  not  that  there  is  no  real  dis¬ 
cordance  in  their  true  interests. 

It  is  time  that  the  people  of  Great  Britain  should  open  their  eyes  to  the 
fact  that  their  progress  is  in  the  same  direction  in  which  have  gone  the  com¬ 
munities  of  Athens,  and  Home,  and  every  other  that  has  desired  to  support 
itself  by  the  labour  of  others.  It  is  time  that  they  should  awake  to  the  fact 
that  the  numerous  and  splendid  gin-shops,  the  perpetual  recurrence  of  child- 
murder  for  the  purpose  of  plundering  burial  societies,  and  the  enormous  in¬ 
crease  of  crime*  and  pauperism,  are  but  the  natural  consequence  of  a  system 
that  tends  to  drive  capital  from  the  land,  to  be  employed  in  spindles  and 


*  “  Humanity  cries  to  us  from  the  depths.  If  we  will  not  answer  her,  it  were  better  a 
millstone  were  tied  about  our  necks,  and  that  we  were  cast  into  the  sea.  Have  we  no 
sense  of  the  precipice  on  which  we  stand  ?  Have  not  the  books  of  the  prophetess  been 
one  by  one  burnt  before  our  eyes — and  does  not  the  sybil  even  now  knock  at  our  doors  to 
offer  us  her  final  volume,  ere  she  turn  from  us  and  leave  us  to  the  Furies'?  Crime,  not 
stealing,  but  striding  onward.  Murders,  poisonings,  becoming  almost  a  domestic  institu¬ 
tion  among  our  villages — husband,  children,  parents,  drugged  to  their  final  home  for  the 
sake  of  the  burial  fees.  Vice  within  the  law,  keeping  pace  with  offence  without.  Incest 
winked  at  by  our  magistracy  from  its  fearful  frequency  in  our  squalid  peasant  dwellings. 
Taxation  reaching  beyond  the  point  at  which  resources  can  meet  it,  so  that,  at  increasingly 
shorter  intervals,  we  have  to  borrow  from  ourselves  to  make  expenditure  square  with 
income.  Poor  Laws  extended  to  Scotland  and  Ireland,  where  they  were  never  known 
before,  and  new  Poor  Laws  failing  in  England  to  check  the  advance  of  rates,  and  the 
growth  of  inveterate  beggary,  until  property  threatens  to  be  swallowed  up  by  the  pro¬ 
pertyless,  and  a  terrible  communism  to  be  realized  among  us  by  a  legalized  division  of 
the  goods  of  those  who  have,  among  those  who  have  not — the  fearfullest  socialism,  the 
equal  republic  of  beggary.  ‘Speak!  strike!  redress!’  Three  millions  and  a  half  of  the 
houseless  and  homeless,  the  desperate,  the  broken,  the  lost,  plead  to  you  in  a  small  still 
voice,  yet  louder  than  the  mouthing  theories  of  constitution-mongers.  Man,  abused,  in¬ 
sulted,  degraded,  shows  to  you  his  social  scars,  his  broken  members,  his  maimed  carcass, 
blurred  in  the  conflict  of  a  selfish  and  abused  community. 

“  We  say  it  must  no  longer  be.  We  are  a  spectacle  to  gods  and  men — ‘  a  by-word  and 
a  hissing  to  the  nations.’  Savages  grow  up  in  the  midst  of  our  feather-head  civilization, 
wilder,  more  forlorn,  more  forgotten,  and  neglected  than  the  Camanches,  dr  the  earth- 
eaters  of  New  Holland.  Ragged  foundlings,  deserted  infant  wretchedness,  paupers  here¬ 
ditary,  boasting  a  beggar  pedigree  older  than  many  of  our  nobles,  grow  up  from  year 
to  year,  generation  to  generation,  eat  with  brazen  front  into  the  substance  of  struggling 
industry.” — The  Mother  Country ,  by  Sydney  Smith. 


164 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


ships,  and  labour  from  the  healthful  and  inspiring  pursuits  of  the  country,  to 
seek  employment  in  Liverpool  and  Manchester,  where  severe  labour  in  the 
effort  to  underwork  the  poor  Hindoo,  and  drive  him  from  his  loom,  is  re¬ 
warded  with  just  sufficient  to  keep  the  labourer  from  starving  in  the  lanes 
and  cellars  with  which  those  cities  so  much  abound. 

That  “  there  is  no  friendship  in  trade,”  is  most  true,  and  yet  trade  is  the 
deity  worshipped  in  this  school.  In  it  “  commerce  is  king,”  and  yet  to  com¬ 
merce  we  owe  much  of  the  existing  demoralization  of  the  world.  The  anx¬ 
iety  to  sell  cheap  induces  the  manufacturer  to  substitute  cotton  for  silk,  and 
flour  for  cotton,  and  leads  to  frauds  and  adulterations  of  every  description. 
Bankruptcy  and  loss  of  honour  follow  in  the  train  of  its  perpetual  revulsions.  - 
To  obtain  intelligence  an  hour  beforehand  of  an  approaching  famine,  and 
thus  to  be  enabled  to  buy  corn  at  less  than  it  is  worth,  or  to  hear  in  advance 
of  the  prospect  of  good  harvests,  and  to  sell  it  at  more  than  it  is  worth,  is 
but  an  evidence  of  superior  sagacity.  To  buy  your  coat  in  the  cheapest 
market,  careless  what  are  the  sufferings  of  the  poor  tailor,  and  sell  your 
grain  in  the  dearest,  though  your  neighbour  may  be  starving,  is  the  cardinal 
principle  of  this  school. 

A  very  slight  examination  will  suffice  to  convince  the  reader  that,  as  has 
been  already  shown,  these  frauds  and  overreachings  increase  in  the  ratio  of 
the  distance  between  the  consumer  and  the  producer.  The  food  that  has 
travelled  far  is  dear,  and  worthy  to  be  mixed  with  beans.  The  cotton  pro¬ 
duced  in  remote  lands  is  dear,  and  it  is  profitable  to  mix  it  with  flour.  The 
shoemaker  who  supplies  the  auctions  uses  poor  leather,  and  employs 
poor  workmen.*  The  object  of  protection  is  that  of  bringing  the  consumer 
of  food  to  the  side  of  its  producer,  there  to  eat  plenty  of  good  and  nourish¬ 
ing  food ;  the  consumer  of  cotton  to  the  side  of  its  producer  that  he  may  not 
need  to  wear  a  mixture  of  wool  and  paste ;  and  the  shoemaker  to  the  side  of 
the  farmer  and  planter,  that  the  latter  may  be  supplied  with  “custom-work,” 
and  not  “  slop-work.”  By  this  he  gains  doubly.  He  gives  less  food,  and 
gets  better  clothing  in  return.  By  so  doing,  his  own  physical  condition  and 
the  moral  condition  of  the  shoemaker  are  both  improved. 

The  whole  tendency  of  the  system  is  to  the  production  of  a  gambling 
spirit.  In  England,  it  makes  railroad  kings,  ending  in  railroad  bankrupts, 
like  Henry  Hudson.  If  we  could  trace  the  effect  of  the  great  speculation 
of  which  this  man  was  the  father,  we  should  find  thousands  and  tens  of  thou¬ 
sands  of  husbands  and  wives,  parents  and  children,  utterly  beggared  to  build 
up  the  fortunes  of  the  few,  and  thus  increase  the  inequality  of  social  condi¬ 
tion  which  lies  at  the  root  of  all  evil.  If  we  examine  it  here,  we  see  it  send¬ 
ing  tens  of  thousands  to  California,  eager  for  gold,  there  to  lose  both  health 
and  life.j"  It  is  sending  thousands  of  boys  and  girls  to  our  cities — the  former 


*  Take,  as  an  illustration  in  the  system,  the  fraud  in  carpets,  such  as  are  usually  sold 
at  auction.  “  The  head  end  of  the  piece  is  woven  firmly  for  a  few  yards,  when  the  web 
is  gradually  slackened,  so  that  the  inside  of  the  piece  bears  no  comparison  with  the  out¬ 
side.  This  is  done  so  adroitly  that  it  is  impossible  for  any,  but  the  best  judges  to  tell  in 
what  the  cheat  consists.  There  is  a  double  evil  in  this  imposture,  for  the  fabric  not  only 
grows  poorer  and  thinner  as  the  piece  is  unrolled,  but  the  figures,  containing  of  course 
the  same  number  of  threads  throughout,  will  not  match,  their  size  being  increased  with 
the  slackness  in  weaving.  This  is  not  only  a  positive  cheat,  but  it  greatly  interferes  with 
the  honest  dealer,  whose  goods  being  alike  throughout,  cannot  of  course  compete  in  price. 
It  is  incredible  to  what  an  extent  this  practice  is  carried,  and  it  is  high  time  there  was 
some  legal  remedy.’’ — Dry  Goods  Reporter. 

■j-  *‘This  is  one  of  the  strangest  places  in  Christendom.  I  know  many  men,  who  were 
models  of  piety,  morality,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing,  when  they  first  arrived  here,  and 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


165 


to  become  shopmen,  and  the  latter  prostitutes,  while  hundreds  of  thousands 
are  at  the  same  time  making  their  way  to  the  West,  there  to  begin  the  work 
of  cultivation,  while  millions  upon  millions  of  acres  in  the  old  States  remain 
untouched.  With  every  step  of  our  progress  in  that  direction,  social  ine¬ 
quality  tends  to  increase.  The  skilful  speculator  realizes  a  fortune  by  the 
same  operation  that  ruins  hundreds  around  him,  and  adds  to  his  fortune  by 
buying  their  property  under  the  hammer  of  the  sheriff.  The  wealthy  manu¬ 
facturer  is  unmoved  by  revulsions  in  the  British  market  which  sweep  away 
his  competitors,  and,  when  the  storm  blows  over,  he  is  enabled  to  double, 
treble,  or  quadruple,  his  already  overgrown  fortune.  The  consequence  is,  that 
great  manufacturing  towns  spring  up  in  one  quarter  of  the  Union,  while  al¬ 
most  every  effort  to  localize  manufactures  (thus  bringing  the  loom  and  the 
anvil  really  to  the  side  of  the  plough  and  the  harrow)  is  followed  by  ruin. 
The  system  tends  to  make  the  rich  richer  and  the  poor  poorer.  The  coal 
miner  of  the  present  year  works  for  half  wages,  but  the  coal  speculator  ob¬ 
tains  double  profits,  and  thus  is  it  ever — the  producer  is  sacrificed  to  the  ex¬ 
changer.  With  the  growth  of  the  exchanging  class,  great  cities  rise  up,  filled 
with  shops,  at  which  men  can  cheaply  become  intoxicated.  New  York  has 
4567  places  at  which  liquor  is  sold,  and  the  Five-Points  me  peopled  with  the 
men  who  make  Astor-place  riots.  Single  merchants  employ  160  clerks, 
while  thousands  of  those  who  are  forced  into  our  cities  and  seek  to  obtain 
a  living  by  trade  are  ruined.  Opera  singers  receive  large  salaries  paid  by 
the  contributions  of  men  whose  shirts  are  made  by  women  whose  wages 
scarcely  enable  them  to  live. 

The  whole  system  of  trade,  as  at  present  conducted,  and  as  it  must  con¬ 
tinue  to  be  conducted  if  the  colonial  system  be  permitted  longer  to  exist,  is 
one  of  mere  gambling,  and  of  all  qualities,  that  which  most  distinguishes 
the  gambler  is  ignorant  selfishness.  He  ruins  his  friends  and  wastes  his  win¬ 
nings  on  a  running-horse,  or  on  a  prostitute.  To  what  extent  this  has  been 
the  characteristic  of  the  men  who  have  figured  most  largely  in  the  walks  of 
commerce,  might  be  determined  by  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  concerns 
of  many  of  the  persons  described  in  the  following  passage,  which  I  take  from 
one  of  the  journals  of  the  day  : 

“  The  great  merchants  of  this  great  mercantile  city,  who  were  looked,  up  to  with  reve¬ 
rence  by  the  mammon-worshipping  crowd  twenty  years  ago — where  are  they  1  Ask  Ste¬ 
phen  Whitney  and  those  few  who  have  with  him  survived  the  shock  of  thirty  years’ 
changes,  and  they  will  tell  you,  in  commercial  language,  that  93  or  95  per  cent,  of  their  con¬ 
temporaries  at  that  date  have  since  become  bankrupt,  and  that  the  widows  of  most  of  those 
deceased  are  either  “  keeping  boarding-houses”  or  have  left  friendless  orphans  to  “  the  ten¬ 
der  mercies”  of  a  commercial  world. 

“  Look  at  the  ephemeral  creatures  of  this  and  last  year’s  accidents,  win?  now  figure  largely 
in  the  great  world  of  New  York,  whether  in  the  wholesale  or  retail  line — whether  in 
commerce,  fashion,  theatricals  or  religion — and  ask  where  and  what  they  or  their  children 
are  likely  to  be  twenty-years  hence.  The  answer  will  be  such  as  none  of  those  most 
deeply  in  it  will  be  apt  to  give  with  precise  or  probable  correctness.  ‘  They  shall  heap  up 
riches  and  know  not  who  shall  gather  them ;’  ‘  they  shall  build  houses  and  know  not  who 
shall  inhabit  them;’  ‘they  shall  plant  vineyards  and  shall  not  eat  the  fruit  of  them;” 
they  shall  ‘call  their  lands  after  their  own  names,’  and  a  generation  shall  rise  up  and 
possess  them  who  shall  laugh  those  names  into  a  contempt  from  which  the  oblivion  that 
shall  succeed  will  seem  a  happy  deliverance.” — N.  Y.  Herald. 


who  are  now  most  desperate  gamblers  and  drunkards.” — Extract  from  a  letter  dated  San 
Francisco ,  July  30. 

“  American  Lottery — Class  No.  1 — $10,000  in  actual  prizes,  sixty-six  numbers,  twelve 
drawn  ballots.  Whole  tickets,  $10 ;  half  do.  $5.  This  lottery  will  be  drawn  at  the 
Public  Institute  in  San  Francisco,  on  the  third  day  of  October,  ’49,  at  twelve  o’clock,  M., 
under  the  superintendence  of  the  managers.” — Pacific  News. 


166 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


As  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  system,  money  becomes  more  and  more 
an  object  of  consideration  in  the  contraction  of  the  important  engagement 
of  matrimony,  and  marriage  settlements  begin  to  appear  among  us.  The 
newspapers  of  the  day  inform  us  of  the  recent  execution  of  one  for  $200,000. 

If  we  look  westward,  it  is  the  same.  Centralization  produces  depopula¬ 
tion,  and  that  is  followed  by  poverty  and  crime.  London  grows  upon  the 
system  that  ruins  India  and  fills  it  with  bands  of  plunderers.  The  West  and 
South-west  are  filled  with  gamblers,  and  land-pirates  abound.  The  late  war 
has  brought  into  existence  a  new  species  of  fraud,  in  the  counterfeiting  of 
land-warrants,  and  this  is  but  one  of  the  many  evils  resulting  from  that 

measure. 

If  we  look  back  but  a  few  years,  we  may  see  that  the  period  between 
1835  and  1843  was  remarkable  for  the  existence  of  crime,  and  it  was  that 
one  in  which  the  tendency  to  dispersion  most  existed.  If  we  now  look  to  the 
period  between  1843  and  1847,  we  can  see  that  there  was  a  giadual  tendency 
to  the  restoration  of  order  and  quiet  and  morality  throughout  the  Union. 
In  the  last  year,  we  may  see  the  reverse.  It  was  marked  by  turnouts,  insub¬ 
ordination  and  violence  of  various  kinds  in  country  and  in  city,  feuch 
is  the  direct  consequence  of  a  diminution  in  the  productiveness  of  labour. 
The  employer  must  pay  less,  and  the  employed  is  unwilling  to  receive  less 

than  that  to  which  he  has  been  accustomed. 

The  tendency  of  the  colonial  system  is  to  increase  the  number  of  wagons 
and  wagoners,  ships  and  sailors,  merchants  and  traders,  the  men  who  neces¬ 
sarily  spend  much  time  in  hotels  and  taverns,  living  by  exchanging  the  pro¬ 
ducts  of  others.  The  tendency  of  protection  is  to  increase  the  number  of  pro¬ 
ducers — of  the  class  that  lives  at  home,  surrounded  by  wives,  children,  and 
friends.  The  one  builds  up  the  city  at  the  expense  of  the  country  ;  the 
other  causes  both  to  grow  together. 

Cities  are  rivals  for  trade,  and  when  the  farmer  desires  a  new  road  to  mar¬ 
ket  he  is  opposed,  lest  it  should  enable  him  to  go  more  cheaply  to  Charles¬ 
ton  than  Savannah;  to  New  York  more  readily  than  to  Philadelphia.  London 
is  jealous  of  Liverpool,  and  Liverpool  of  London.  Discord  is  everywhere, 
and  the  smaller  the  amount  of  production,  the  greater  must  it  necessarily  be. 
Protection  seeks  to  increase  production,  and  thus  establish  harmony. 

It  is  asserted  that  protection  tends  to  increase  smuggling,  and  therefore  to 
deteriorate  morals.  To  determine  this  question,  it  would  be  required  only  to 
ascertain  what  description  of  men  transact  business  at  our  custom-houses. 
From  1830  to  1834,  the  chief  part  was  done  by  men  who  had  homes  occu¬ 
pied  by  wives  and  families,  for  whose  sake  reputation  was  dear,  but  from  1835 
to  1842,  it  passed  almost  entirely  into  the  hands  of  men  who  lived  m  hotels 
and  boarding-houses,  and  who  had  neither  wives  nor  families  to  maintain. 
From  1843  to  1847,  it  went  back  to  the  former  class.  It  has  now  returned  al¬ 
most  entirely  into  the  hands  of  agents — men  whose  business  is  trade,  and  w  o 
swear  to  a  false  invoice  for  a  commission.  The  honest  man,  who  desires  to 
perform  his  duties  to  his  wife  and  children,  to  society,  to  his  countiy,  and  to 
his  Creator,  cannot  import  foreign  merchandise.  The  system  is  a  premium 

on  immorality  and  fraud.  , 

The  object  of  protection  is  the  establishment  of  perfect  free  trade,  by  the 
annexation  of  men  and  of  nations.  Every  man  brought  here  increases  the 
domain  of  free  trade,  and  diminishes  the  necessity  for  custom-houses.  Every 
man  brought  here  consumes  four,  six,  ten,  or  twelve  pounds  of  cotton  for  one 
that  he  could  consume  at  home,  and  every  one  is  a  customer  to  the  farmei 
for  bushels  instead  of  gills.  Between  the  honest  and.  intelligent  man  who 
desires  to  see  the  establishment  of  real  free-trade,  the  Christian  who  desires  to  see 
an  improvement  in  the  standard  of  morality,  the  planter  who  desires  an  in- 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


167 


creased  market  for  his  cotton,  the  farmer  who  desires  larger  returns  to  his 
labour,  the  landowner  who  desires  to  see  an  increase  in  the  value  of  his 
land,  and  the  labourer  who  desires  to  sell  his  labour  at  the  highest  price, 
there  is  perfect  harmony  of  interest.. 

CHAPTER  TWENTY-SECOND. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  INTELLECTUAL  CONDITION. 

The  higher  the  degree  of  intellect  applied  to  the  work  of  production,  the 
larger  will  be  the  return  to  labour,  and  the  more  rapid  will  be  the  accumu¬ 
lation  of  capital.  If  protection  be  u  a  war  upon  labour  and  capital/’  it  must 
tend  to  prevent  the  growth  of  intellect. 

The  more  men  are  enabled  to  combine  their  efforts,  and  the  greater  the 
tendency  to  association,  the  larger  is  the  return  to  labour,  and  the  more 
readily  can  they  obtain  books  and  newspapers  for  themselves,  and  schools  for 
their  children.  The  object  of  the  monopoly  system  is  that  of  compelling 
men  to  scatter  themselves  over  large  surfaces,  and  into  distant  colonies,  and 
thus  to  diminish  the  power  of  obtaining  books,  newspapers  and  schools. 
The  object  of  protection  is  the  correction  of  this  error,  and  to  enable  men  to 
combine  their  efforts  for  mental  as  well  as  physical  improvement. 

The  greater  the  tendency  to  association,  the  greater  is  the  facility  for  the 
dissemination  of  new  ideas  in  regard  to  modes  of  thought  or  action,  and  for 
obtaining  aid  in  carrying  them  into  practical  effect.  The  object  of  the  English 
monopoly  system  is  that  of  separating  men  from  each  other,  and  depriving 
them  of  this  advantage.'  The  object  of  protection  is  to  enable  them  to  come 
together,  and  being  so,  it  would  seem  to  be  the  real  friend  to  both  labourer 
and  capitalist. 

If  we  look  throughout  the  world  we  shall  see  intellect  increasing  as  men 
live  more  and  more  in  communion  with  each  other,  and  diminishing  as  they 
are  compelled  to  separate.  The  man  who  is  distant  from  market  spends 
much  of  his  time  in  taverns,  where  he  obtains  little  tending  to  the  improve¬ 
ment  of  mind  or  morals.  The  man  who  has  a  market  at  his  door,  may  obtain 
books  and  newspapers,  and  he  is  surrounded  by  skilful  farmers,  from  whom 
he  obtains  information.  Not  being  compelled  to  spend  his  time  on  the  road, 
he  is  enabled  to  give  both  time  and  mind  to  the  improvement  of  his  land,  to 
which  he  returns  the  refuse  in  the  form  of  manure,  and  thus  it  is  that  he 
himself  grows  rich. 

Of  all  the  pursuits  of  man,  agriculture — the  work  of  production — is  the 
one  that  most  tends  to  the  expansion  of  intellect.  It  is  the  great  pursuit  of 
man.  There  is  none  u  in  which  so  many  of  the  laws  of  nature  must  be  con¬ 
sulted  and  understood  as  in  the  cultivation  of  the  earth.  Every  change  of 
the  season,  every  change  even  of  the  winds,  every  fall  of  rain,  must  affect 
some  of  the  manifold  operations  of  the  farmer.  In  the  improvement  of  our 
various  domestic  animals,  some  of  the  most  abstruse  principles  of  physiology 
must  be  consulted.  Is  it  to  be  supposed  that  men  thus  called  upon  to  study, 
or  to  observe  the  laws  of  nature,  and  labour  in  conjunction  with  its  powers, 
require  less  of  the  light  of  the  highest  science  than  the  merchant  or  the 
manufacturer?”*  It  is  not.  It  is  the  science  that  requires  the  greatest 
knowledge,  and  the  one  that  pays  best  for  it :  and  yet  England  has  driven 
man,  and  wealth,  and  mind,  into  the  less  profitable  pursuits  of  fashioning 
and  exchanging  the  products  of  other  lands  :  and  has  expended  thousands  of 
millions  on  fleets  and  armies  to  enable  her  to  drive  with  foreign  nations  the 
poor  trade,  when  her  own  soil  offered  her  the  richer  one  that  tends  to  produce 


*  Wadsworth’s  Address  to  the  New  York  Agricultural  Society. 


168 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


that  increase  of  wealth  and  concentration  of  population  which  have  in  all 
times  and  in  all  ages  given  the  self-protective  power  that  requires  neither 
fleets,  nor  armies,  nor  tax-gatherers.  In  her  efforts  to  force  this  trade,  she 
has  driven  the  people  of  the  United  States  to  extend  themselves  over  vast 
tracts  of  inferior  land  when  they  might  more  advantageously  have  concen¬ 
trated  themselves  on  rich  ones :  and  she  has  thus  delayed  the  progress  of 
civilization  abroad  and  at  home.  She  has  made  it  necessary  for  the  people 
of  grain-growing  countries  to  rejoice  in  the  deficiencies  of  her  harvests,  as 
affording  them  the  outlet  for  surplus  food  that  they  could  not  consume,  and 
that  was  sometimes  abandoned  on  the  field  as  not  worth  the  cost  of  har¬ 
vesting;  instead  of  being  enabled  to  rejoice  in  the  knowledge  that  others 
were  likely  to  be  fed  as  abundantly  as  themselves.  Her  internal  system  was 
unsound,  and  her  wealth  gave  her  power  to  make  that  unsoundness  a  cause 
of  disturbance  to  the  world ;  and  hence  she  has  appeared  to  be  everywhere 
regarded  as  a  sort  of  common  enemy. 

To  this  unsound  system  we  are  indebted  for  the  very  unsound  ideas  that 
exist  in  regard  to  the  division  of  labour.  Men  are  crowded  into  large  towns 
and  cities,  to  labour  in  great  shops,  where  the  only  idea  ever  acquired  is  the 
pointing  of  a  needle,  and  that  is  acquired  at  the  cost  of  health  and  life.  The 
necessary  consequence  is  the  general  inferiority  of  physical,  moral,  and 
mental  condition,  that  is  observable  in  all  classes  of  English  workmen. 

Of  all  machines,  the  most  costly  to  produce  is  Man,  and  yet  the  duration 
of  this  expensive  and  beautiful  machine  is  reduced  to  an  average  of  twenty- 
five  or  thirty  years,  under  the  vain  idea  that  by  so  doing  pins  and  needles 
may  be  obtained  at  less  cost  of  labour.  The  principle  is  the  same  that  is 
said  to  govern  the  planter  of  Cuba  when  he  stocks  his  estate  exclusively  with 
males,  deeming  it  cheaper  to  buy  slaves  than  to  raise  them.  As  a  necessary 
consequence,  the  duration  of  life  is  there  short,  and  so  is  it  in  the  crowded  facto¬ 
ries  of  the  great  “  workshop  of  the  world.”  The  idea  is  vain.  Pins  and 
needles  would  be  obtained  at  far  less  cost  of  labour  were  the  workshops  of 
Sheffield  and  of  Birmingham  scattered  throughout  the  kingdom,  thereby 
enabling  the  producers  of  pins  to  take  their  places  by  the  side  of  the  producers 
of  food,  and  enabling  all  to  enjoy  the  pure  air  and  pure  water  of  the  village, 
instead  of  being  compelled,  after  breathing  the  foul  atmosphere  of  the  work¬ 
shop  during  the  day,  to  retire  at  night  to  rest  in  the  filthy  cellar  of  the  un¬ 
drained  street.  Were  the  ore  of  Ireland  converted  into  axes  and  railroad 
bars  by  aid  of  the  coal  and  the  labour  of  Ireland,  the  cellars  of  Manchester 
and  Birmingham  would  not  be  filled  with  starving  Irishmen,  flying  by  hun¬ 
dreds  of  thousands  from  pestilence  and  famine,  and  compelling  the  labourers 
of  England  to  fly  to  the  United  States,  Canada,  or  Australia. 

The  English  school  of  political  economy  treats  man  as  a  mere  machine, 
placed  on  the  earth  for  the  purpose  of  producing  food,  cloth,  iron,  pins,  or 
needles,  and  takes  no  account  of  him  as  a  being  capable  of  intellectual  and 
moral  improvement.  It  looks  for  physical  power  in  connection  with  igno¬ 
rance  and  immorality,  and  the  result  is  disappointment.*  The  workman  of 


*  The  commissioners  for  inquiring  into  the  state  of  education  in  Wales,  describe  a  state 
of  mental  condition  perfectly  in  keeping  with  the  following  account  of  their  physical  con¬ 
dition  : — “  The  houses  and  cottages  of  the  people  are  wretchedly  bad,  and  akin  to  Irish 
hovels.  Brick  chimneys  are  very  unusual  in  these  cottages  ;  those  whicj^  exist  are  usually 
in  the  shape  of  large  coves,  the  top  being  of  basket-work.  In  few  cottages  is  there  more 
than  one  room,  which  serves  for  the  purpose  of  living  and  sleeping.”  Hence  it  is  that 
there  is  so  universal  a  want  of  chastity,  resulting,  say  the  commissioners,  “  from  the  re¬ 
volting  habit  of  herding  married  and  unmarried  people  of  both  sexes,  often  unconnected 
by  relationship,  in  the  same  sleeping  rooms,  and  often  in  adjoining  beds,  without  partition 
ox  curtain.”  [See  Westminster  Review,  No.  XCVI.] 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


169 


this  country  is  infinitely  the  superior  of  the  workman  of  Manchester,  and  the 
reason  is,  that  he  is  not  treated  as  a  mere  machine.  The  object  of  what 
is  called  free  trade  is  to  degrade  the  one  to  the  level  of  the  other.  The  object 
of  protection  is  that  of  enabling  the  poor  artisan  of  Manchester  or  Leeds, 
Birmingham  or  Sheffield,  to  transfer  himself  to  a  country  in  which  he  will 
not  be  so  treated,  and  in  which  he  may  have  books  and  newspapers,  and  his 
children  may  be  educated. 

The  colonial  system  involves  an  expenditure  for  ships  of  war,  soldiers,  and 
sailors,  greater  than  would  be  required  for  giving  to  every  child  in  the  king¬ 
dom  an  education  of  the  highest  order ;  and  those  ships  and  men  are  sup¬ 
ported  out  of  the  proceeds  of  taxes  paid  by  poor  mechanics  and  agricultural 
labourers,  whose  children  grow  up  destitute  even  of  the  knowledge  that 
there  is  a  God.  The  object  of  protection  is  to  do  away  with  the  necessity 
for  such  ships  and  men,  and  to  raise  the  value  of  labour  to  such  a  point  as 
will  enable  the  people  of  England  to  provide  schools  for  themselves. 

In  the  colonies,  the  perpetual  exhaustion  of  the  land  and  its  owner  has  for¬ 
bidden,  as  it  now  forbids,  the  idea  of  intellectual  improvement.  To  the  West 
Indies  no  Englishmen  went  to  remain.  The  plantations  were  managed  by 
agents,  and  the  poor  blacks,  under  their  agency,  died  so  fast  as  to  ren¬ 
der  necessary  an  annual  importation  merely  to  keep  up  the  number.  In 
India,  where  education  was  from  the  earliest  period  an  object  of  interest 
to  the  government,  and  where  every  well-regulated  village  had  its  public 
school  and  its  schoolmaster,  in  which  information  was  so  well  and  so 
cheaply  taught  as  to  furnish  the  idea  of  the  Lancaster  system,  it  has  almost 
disappeared.  In  the  thana  of  Nattore,  containing  184,509  inhabitants,  there 
were,  a  few  years  since,  but  27  schools,  with  262  scholars.  The  teachers 
were  simple-minded  and  ignorant,  with  salaries  of  $2-50  per  month,  and  the 
scholars  were  without  books.  The  number  who  could  read  and  write  was 
6000.  Such  was  the  state  of  education  in  one  of  the  best  portions  of 
Bengal.  In  the  Bombay  presidency,  with  a  population  of  six  and  a  half 
millions,  there  were  25  government  schools,  with  1315  scholars,  and  1680 
village  schools,  with  33,838  scholars.  In  the  Madras  presidency,  out  of  13 
millions,  there  were  355,000  male  and  8000  female  scholars,  and  the  in¬ 
struction  was  of  the  worst  kind. 

In  Upper  Canada,  in  1848,  the  number  of  children,  male  and  female, 
under  fourteen  years  of  age,  was  326,050,  of  whom  but  80,461  attended 
school.*  So  far  the  state  of  things  is  better  than  in  other  colonies ;  but  when 
we  come  to  look  further,  the  difference  is  not  very  great.  The  intellect  of  man 
is  to  be  quickened  by  communion  with  his  fellow-man,  of  which  there  can 
be  but  little  where  the  loom  is  widely  distant  from  the  plough,  and  men  are 
distant  from  each  other,  all  engaged  in  the  single  pursuit  of  agriculture. 
How  slow  has  been  the  growth  of  concentration  in  that  province,  may  be 
seen  from  the  following  facts.  Numerous  small  woollen  mills  furnish  584,008 
yards  of  flannel  and  other  inferior  cloths,  working  up  the  produce  of  perhaps 
250,000  sheep.  Fulling  mills  exist,  at  which  about  2,000,000  pounds  of 
woollen  cloths  of  household  manufacture  are  fulled.  Further,  there  are — 

1  rope-walk.  11  pail  factories.  1  ship-yard.  1  vinegar  factory. 

1  candle  factory.  1  last  factory.  1  trip  hammer.  5  chair  factories. 

1  cement  mill.  4  oil  mills.  2  paper  mills, making  2  brick-yards. 

1  sal-eratus  factory.  3  tobacco  factories.  1900  reams  each.  1  axe  factory,  produc- 
8  soap  factories.  2  steam-engine  facto-  3  potteries.  ing  5000  per  annum. 

3  nail  factories.  ries.  1  comb  factory.  6  plaster  mills,  -j- 

And  these  constitute  the  whole  of  the  manufacturing  establishments  of 


*  Appendix  to  first  Report  of  Board  of  Registration. 


f  Ibid. 


170 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


that  great  district  of  country,  much  of  it  so  long  settled.  There  is,  conse¬ 
quently,  little  or  no  employment  for  mind,  and  the  consequence  is,  that  all 
who  desire  to  engage  in  other  pursuits  than  those  of  agriculture  fly  to  the 
South.  There  are  now  within  the  Union,  it  is  said,  not  less  than  200,000 
Canadians,  and  with  every  day  the  tendency  to  emigration  increases.*.  If  we 
look  to  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick,  it  is  the  same.  There  is  there 
no  demand  for  intellect,  and  any  man  possessing  it  flies  southward.  Forty 
years  since  it  was  asked,  “  Who  reads  an  American  book  ?”  .  That  question 
has  long  since  been  answered ;  but  it  may  now  be  repeated  in  reference  to 
all  the  British  provinces.  Who  reads  a  Canadian,  a  Nova-Scotian,  or  a  New 
Brunswick  book  ?  Upper  Canada  lias  two  paper-mills  capable  of  producing  „ 
about  ten  reams  of  paper  per  day,  being,  perhaps,  a  tenth  of  what  is  re¬ 
quired  to  supply  the  newspapers  of  Cincinnati.  Forty  years  since,  the  ques¬ 
tion  might  have  been  asked,  Who  uses  an  American  machine  ?”  and  yet  the 
machine  shops  of  Austria  and  Russia  are  now  directed  by  our  countrymen, 
and  the  latest  improvements  in  machinery  for  the  conversion  of  wool  into 
cloth  are  of  American  invention.  The  British  provinces  have  had  the  ad¬ 
vantage  of  perfect  free  trade  with  England,  the  consequence  of  which  is, 
that  they  are  almost  destitute  of  paper-mills  and  printing-offices,  and  machine 
shops  are  unknown,  while  the  Union  has  been  a  prey  to  the  protective  sys¬ 
tem,  that  u  war  upon  labour  and  capital/’  the  consequence  of  which  is,  that 
paper-mills  and  printing-offices  abound  to  an  extent  unknown  in  the  world, 
and  almost  equal  in  number  and  power  to  those  of  the  whole  world, "j"  and 
machine  shops  exist  almost  everywhere.  These  differences  are  not  due  to 
any  difference  in  the  abundance  or  quality  of  land,  for  that  of  Upper  Canada 
is  yet  to  a  great  extent  unoccupied,  and  is  in  quality  inferior  to  none  on  the 
continent.  They  are  not  due  to  difference  in  other  natural  advantages,  for 
New  Brunswick  has  every  advantage  possessed  by  Maine  and  New  Hamp¬ 
shire,  and  Nova  Scotia  has  coal  and  iron  ore  more  advantageously  situated 
than  any  in  the  Union.  They  are  not  due  to  difference  of  taxation,  for 
Great  Britain  has  paid  almost  all  the  expenses  of  government.  To  what, 
then,  can  they  be  attributed,  but  to  the  fact  that  those  provinces  have  been 
subject  to  the  monopoly  system,  and  compelled  to  waste  their  own  labour 
while  giving  their  products  in  exchange  for  the  services  of  English  men,  wo¬ 
men,  and  children,  employed  in  doing  for  them  what  they  could  have  better 
done  themselves,  and  losing  four-fifths  of  their  products  in  the  transit  between 
the  producer  and  the  consumer?  Place  the  colony  within  the  Union  give 
it  protection — and  in  a  dozen  years  its  paper-mills  and  its  printing-offices 
will  become  numerous,  and  many  will  then  read  Canadian  books. 

In  England,  a  large  portion  of  the  people  can  neither  read  nor  write,  and 
there  is  scarcely  an  effort  to  give  them  education.  The  colonial  system  looks 
to  low  wages,  necessarily  followed  by  an  inability  to  devote  time  to  intel¬ 
lectual  improvement.  Protection  looks  to  the  high  wages  that  enable  the 
labourer  to  improve  his  mind,  and  educate  his  children.  The  English 
child,  transferred  to  this  country,  becomes  an  educated  and  responsible  being. 
If  he  remain  at  home,  he  remains  in  brutish  ignorance.  To  increase  the 

*  “  I  do  not  exaggerate  when  I  say  that  there  are  no  less  than  200,000  Canadians  in  the 
United  States ;  and,  unless  efficacious  means  are  taken  to  stop  this  frightful  emigration, 
before  ten  years  two  hundred  thousand  more  of  our  compatriots  will  have  carried  to  the 
American  Union  their  arms,  their  intelligence,  and  their  hearts.’’ — Letter  of  Rev.  Arthur 
Chiniquy. 

f  The  whole  quantity  of  paper  required  to  supply  the  newspaper  press  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland  is  170,000  reams;  while  that  required  for  the  supply  of  four  papers  printed 
in  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore,  is  about  110,000,  and  the  whole  number  of 
newspapers  is  about  2400. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


171 


productiveness  of  labour,  education  is  necessary.  Protection  tends  to  the 
diffusion  of  education,  and  the  elevation  of  the  condition  of  the  labourer. 

At  no  period  of  our  history  has  the  demand  for  books  and  pictures,  or  the 
compensation  of  authors  or  artists,  been  less  than  in  the  period  of  1842-43. 
At  none  have  they  grown  so  rapidly  as  from  1844  to  1847.  They  now  tend 
downward,  notwithstanding  a  demand  that  is  still  maintained  by  the  power 
that  yet  exists  of  obtaining  merchandise  in  exchange  for  certificates  of  debt. 
When  that  shall  pass  away,  we  shall  see  a  recurrence  of  the  events  of  the 
free  trade  period. 

If  we  desire  to  raise  the  intellectual  standard  of  man  throughout  the  world, 
our  object  can  be  accomplished  only  by  raising  the  value  of  man,  as  a  ma¬ 
chine,  throughout  the  world.  Every  man  brought  here  is  raised,  and  every 
man  so  brought  tends  to  diminish  the  supposed  surplus  of  men  elsewhere. 
Men  come  when  the  reward  of  labour  is  high,  as  they  did  between  1844  and 
1848.  They  return  disappointed  when  the  reward  of  labour  is  small,  as  is 
now  the  case.  Protection  tends  to  increase  the  reward  of  labour,  and  to  im¬ 
prove  the  intellectual  condition  of  man. 

CHAPTER  TWENTY-THIRD. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  THE  POLITICAL  CONDITION  OF  MAN. 

The  larger  the  return  to  labour,  the  greater  will  be  the  power  to  accumu¬ 
late  capital.  The  larger  the  proportion  which  capital  seeking  to  be  employed 
bears  to  the  labourers  who  are  to  employ  it,  the  larger  will  be  the  wages  of 
labour,  the  greater  the  power  of  the  labourer  to  accumulate  for  himself,  and 
the  more  perfect  will  be  his  control  over  the  disposition  of  his  labour  and  the 
application  of  its  proceeds,  whether  to  private  or  to  public  purposes. 

The  freeman  chooses  his  employer,  sells  his  labour,  and  disposes  of  the 
proceeds  at  his  pleasure.  The  slave  does  none  of  these  things.  His  master 
takes  the  produce  of  his  labour,  and  returns  him  such  portion  as  suits  his 
pleasure. 

Throughout  the  world,  and  in  all  ages,  freedom  has  advanced  with  every 
increase  in  the  ratio  of  wealth  to  population.  When  the  people  of  England 
were  poor,  they  were  enslaved,  but  with  growing  wealth  they  have  become 
more  free.  So  has  it  been  in  Belgium  and  in  France.  So  is  it  now  in 
Russia  and  Germany,  and  so  must  it  everywhere  be.  India  is  poor,  and  the 
many  are  slaves  to  the  few.  So  is  it  in  Ireland.  Freedom  is  there  unknown. 
The  poor  Irishman,  limited  to  the  labours  of  agriculture,  desires  a  bit  of 
land,  and  he  gives  the  chief  part  of  the  product  of  his  year’s  labour  for 
permission  to  starve  upon  the  balance,  happy  to  be  permitted  to  remain  on 
payment  of  this  enormous  rent.  He  is  the  slave  of  the  land-owner,  without 
even  the  slave’s  right  to  claim  of  him  support  in  case  of  sickness,  or  if,  es¬ 
caping  from  famine,  he  should  survive  to  an  age  that  deprives  him  of  the 
power  of  labouring  for  his  support.  England  employs  fleets,  paid  for  out  of 
taxes  imposed  on  starving  Irishmen,  to  prevent  the  people  of  Brazil  from 
buying  black  men,  and  women,  and  children,  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  while 
holding  herself  ready  to  give  white  men,  and  women,  and  children,  to  any 
who  will  carry  them  from  her  shores,  and  even  to  add  thereto  a  portion  of 
the  cost  of  their  transportation ;  and  this  she  does  without  requiring  the 
transporter  to  produce  even  the  slightest  evidence  that  they  have  been 
delivered  at  their  destined  port  in  u  good  order  and  well-conditioned.” 
When  Ireland  shall  become  rich,  labour  will  become  valuable,  and  man  will 
become  free.  When  Italy  was  filled  with  prosperous  communities,  labour 
was  productive,  and  it  was  in  demand )  and  then  men  who  had  it  to  sell 
fixed  the  price  at  which  it  should  be  sold.  With  growing  poverty;  labour 


172 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


ceased  to  be  in  demand,  and  the  buyer  fixed  the  price.  The  labourer  then 
became  a  slave.  If  we  follow  the  history  of  Tuscany,  we  can  find  men 
becoming  enslaved  as  poverty  succeeded  wealth ;  and  again  may  we  trace 
them  becoming  more  and  more  free,  as  wealth  has  grown  with  continued 
peace.  So  has  it  been  in  Egypt,  and  Sicily,  and  Spam  Everywhere 
poverty  or  a  deficiency  of  those  aids  to  labour  which  constitute  wealth,  is, 
and  has  invariably  been,  the  companion  of  slavery;  and  everywhere  wealth, 
or  an  abundance  of  ploughs,  and  harrows,  and  horses,  and  cows,  and  oxen, 
and  cultivated  lands,  and  houses,  and  mills,  is,  and  has  invariably  been  the 

companion,  and  the  cause,  of  freedom.  ,  ,  ,  ^  , 

If  protection  be  a  “  war  upon  labour  and  capital,  it  must  tend  to  prevent 
the  growth  of  wealth,  and  thus  to  deteriorate  the  political  condition  of  man. 

The  farmer  who  exchanges  his  food  with  the  man  who  produces  iron  by 
means  of  horses,  wagons,  canal-boats,  merchants,  ships,  and  sailors,  gives 
much  food  for  little  iron.  The  iron  man,  who  exchanges  his  products  tor 
food  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  same  machinery,  gives  much  iron  tor 
little  food  The  chief  part  of  the  product  is  swallowed  up  by  the  men  who 
stand  between,  and  grow  rich  while  the  producers  remain  poor. .  The  growth 
of  wealth  is  thus  prevented,  and  inequality  of  political  condition  is  maintained. 

The  farmer  who  exchanges  directly  with  the  producer  of  iron  gives  lab  our 
for  labour.  Both  thus  grow  rich,  because  the  class  that  desires  to  stand  be¬ 
tween  has  no  opportunity  of  enriching  themselves  at  their  expense.  Equality 
of  condition  is  thus  promoted. 

The  object  of  protection  is  that  of  bringing  the  consumer  of  lood  to  take 
his  place  by  the  side  of  the  producer  of  food,  and  thus  promoting  the  growth 
of  wealth  and  the  improvement  of  political  condition.  That  it  does  produce 
that  effect,  is  obvious  from  the  fact  that,  in  periods  of  protection,  such  vast 
numbers  seek  our  shores,  and  that  immigration  becomes  stationary,  or 
diminishes,  with  every  approach  towards  that  system  which  is  usually  deno¬ 
minated  free  trade.  .  .  ,  . 

The  colonial  system  is  based  upon  cheap  labour.  Protection  seeks  to  in¬ 
crease  the  reward  of  labour.  The  one  fills  factories  with  children  of  tender 
years,  and  expels  men  to  Canada  and  Australia ;  the  other  unites  the  men 

and  sends  the  children  to  school.  ...  .  , 

The  Irishman  at  home  is  a  slave.  He  prays  for  permission  to  remain  and 
pay  in  pounds  sterling  for  quarters  of  acres,  and  his  request  is  refused. 
Transfer  him  here  and  he  becomes  a  freeman,  choosing  his  employer  and 
fixing  the  price  of  his  labour.  The  Highlander  is  a  slave  that  would.  gladly 
remain  at  home  ;  but  he  is  expelled  to  make  room  for  sheep..  One-ninth  o 
the  population  of  England  are  slaves  to  the  parish  beadle,  eating  the  bread  ot 
euforced  charity,  and  a  large  portion  of  the  remaining  eight-ninths  are  slaves 
to  the  policy  which  produces  a  constant  recurrence  of  chills  and  levers— over¬ 
work  at  small  wages  at  one  time,  and  no  work  at  any  wages  at  another 
Transfer  them  here  and  they  become  freemen,  selecting  their  employers  ana 
fixing  the  hours  and  the  reward  of  labour.  The  Hindoo  is  a  slave.  His 
landlord’s  officers  fix  the  quantity  of  land  that  he  must  cultivate,  and  the 
rent  he  must  pay.  He  is  not  allowed,  on  payment  even  of  the  high  survey 
assessment  fixed  on  each  field,  to  cultivate  only  those  fields  to  which  he  gives 
the  preference  :  his  task  is  assigned  to  him,  and  he  is  constrained  to  occupy 
all  such  fields  as  are  allotted  to  him  by  the  revenue  officers,  and  whether  lie 
cultivates  them  or  not,  he  is  saddled  with  the  rent  of  all.  If  driven  by 
these  oppressions  to  fly  and  seek  a  subsistence  elsewhere,  he  is  followed 
wherever  he  goes  and  oppressed  at  discretion,  or  deprived  of  the  advantages 
he  might  expect  from  a  change  of  residence.  .  If  he  work  for  wages,  he  is 
paid  in  money  when  grain  is  high,  and  in  grain  when  it  is  low.  He,  there- 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


173 


fore,  has  no  power  to  determine  the  price  of  his  labour.  Could  he  be  trans¬ 
ferred  here,  he  would  be  found  an  efficient  labourer,  and  would  consume  more 
cotton  in  a  week  than  he  now  does  in  a  year,  and  by  the  change  his  political 
condition  would  be  greatly  improved. 

Protection  looks  to  the  improvement  in  the  political  condition  of  the  human 
race.  To  accomplish  that  object,  it  is  needed  that  the  value  of  man  be  raised, 
and  that  men  should  everywhere  be  placed  in  a  condition  to  sell  their  labour 
to  the  highest  bidder — to  the  man  who  will  give  in  return  the  largest  quan¬ 
tity  of  food,  clothing,  shelter,  and  other  of  the  comforts  of  life.  To  enable 
the  Hindoo  to  sell  his  labour  and  to  fix  its  price,  it  is  necessary  to  raise  the 
price  of  his  chief'  product,  cotton.  That  is  to  be  done  by  increasing  the 
consumption,  and  that  object  is  to  be  attained  by  diminishing  the  waste  of 
labour  attendant  upon  its  transit  between  the  producer  and  the  consumer. 
Fill  this  country  with  furnaces  and  mills,  and  railroads  will  be  made  in 
every  direction,  and  the  consumption  of  cotton  will  speedily  rise  to  twenty 
pounds  per  head,  while  millions  of  European  labourers,  mechanics,  farmers, 
and  capitalists  will  cross  the  Atlantic,  and  every  million  will  be  a  customer 
for  one-fourth  as  much  as  was  consumed  by  the  people  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland  in  1847.  The  harmony  of  the  interests  of  the  cotton-growers 
throughout  the  world  is  perfect,  and  all  the  discord  comes  from  the  power  of 
the  exchangers  to  produce  apparent  discord. 

It  is  asserted,  however,  that  protection  tends  to  build  up  a  body  of  capi¬ 
talists  at  the  expense  of  the  consumer,  and  thus  produce  inequality  of  condi¬ 
tion-.  That  such  is  the  effect  of  inadequate  protection  is  not  to  be  doubted. 
So  long  as  we  continue  under  a  necessity  for  seeking  in  England  a  market  for 
our  surplus  products,  her  markets  will  fix  the  price  for  the  world,  and  so  long 
as  we  shall  continue  to  be  under  a  necessity  for  seeking  there  a  small  supply 
of  cloth  or  iron,  so  long  will  the  prices  in  her  markets  fix  the  price  of  all, 
and  the  domestic  producer  of  cloth  and  iron  will  profit  by  the  difference  of 
freight  both  out  and  home.  With  this  profit  he  takes  the  risk  of  ruin,  which 
is  of  perpetual  occurrence  among  the  men  of  small  capitals.  Those  who  are 
already  wealthy  have  but  to  stop  their  furnaces  or  mills  until  prices  rise,  and 
then  they  have  the  markets  to  themselves,  for  their  poorer  competitors  have 
been  ruined.  Such  is  the  history  of  many  of  the  large  fortunes  accumulated 
by  the  manufacture  of  cloth  and  iron  in  this  country,  and  such  the  almost 
universal  history  of  every  effort  to  establish  manufactures  south  and  west 
of  New  England. 

Inadequate  and  uncertain  protection  benefits  the  farmer  and  planter  little, 
while  the  uncertainty  attending  it  tends  to  make  the  rich  richer  and  the  poor 
poorer,  thus  producing  social  and  political  inequality. 

Adequate  and  certain  protection,  on  the  contrary,  tends  to  the  production 
of  equality — -first,  because  by  its  aid  the  necessity  for  depending  on  foreign 
markets  for  the  sale  of  our  products,  or  the  supply  of  our  wants,  will  be 
brought  to  an  end,  and  thenceforth  the  prices,  being  fixed  at  home,  will  be 
steady,  and  then  the  smaller  capitalist  will  be  enabled  to  maintain  competi¬ 
tion  with  the  larger  one,  with  great  advantage  to  the  consumers — farmers, 
planters,  and  labourers )  and,  second,  because  its  benefits  will  be,  as  they 
always  have  been,  felt  chiefly  by  the  many  with  whom  the  price  of  labour 
constitutes  the  sole  fund  out  of  which  they  are  to  be  maintained. 

If  we  take  the  labour  that  is  employed  in  the  factories  of  the  country,  from 
one  extremity  to  the  other,  it  will  be  found  that  nearly  the  whole  of  it  would 
be  waste,  if  not  so  employed.  If  we  take  that  which  is  employed  in  getting 
out  the  timber  and  the  stone  for  building  factories  and  furnaces,  it  will  be 
found  that  a  large  portion  of  it  would  otherwise  be  waste.  If  we  inquire 
into  the  operations  of  the  farmer,  we  find  that  the  vicinity  of  a  factory,  or 


174 


THE  HARMONY  OP  INTERESTS. 


furnace,  enables  him  to  save  much  of  the  labour  of  transportation,  and  to  sell 
many  things  that  would  otherwise  be  waste.  Thus  far,  the  advantage  would 
seem  to  be  all  on  the  side  of  the  employed,  and  not  on  that  of  the  employer. 

Let  us  now  suppose  that  all  protection  were  abolished,  and  that  perfect 
freedom  of  trade  were  established,  and  that  the  result  were,  as  it  inevitably 
would  be,  to  close  every  factory,  furnace,  rolling  mill,  and  coal-mine  in  the 
country,  and  see  what  would  be  the  result.  The  owners  of  such  property 
would  lose  a  few  millions  of  dollars  of  rents,  or  profits,  but  the  supply  of 
fuel  would  be  less  by  three  millions  of  tons,  that  of  iron  would  be  less  by 
eight  hundred  thousand  tons,  and  that  of  cotton  cloth  would  be  less  by  almost 
a  thousand  millions  of  yards.  The  demand  for  the  labour  now  employed  in , 
the  production  of  those  commodities  would  be  at  an  end,  and  the  spare-labour 
of  men,  and  women,  and  children,  and  wagons,  and  horses,  and  the  various 
things  now  used  in  and  about  factories  and  furnaces,  would  then  be  wasted, 
coal  and  iron  and  cloth  would  be  doubled  in  price,  and  labour  would  be  di¬ 
minished  in  a  corresponding  degree.  The  power  to  import  iron,  or  coal, 
or  cloth,  would  not  be  increased  by  a  single  ton,  or  yard,  and  the  people 
would  be  compelled  to  dispense  with  necessaries  of  life  that  are  now  readily 
obtained.  The  capitalists,  whose  means  were  locked  up  in  factories  or  fur¬ 
naces,  would  suffer  some  loss;  but  the  mass  of  persons  possessed  of  dis¬ 
engaged  capital,  and  the  receivers  of  State  dividends,  would  be  able  to  com¬ 
mand,  for  the  same  reward,  a  much  larger  quantity  of  labour  than  before. 

The  object  of  protection  is  that  of  securing  a  demand  for  labour,  and  its 
tendency  is  to  produce  equality  of  condition.  The  jealousy  of  “overgrown 
capitalists”  has  caused  many  changes  of  policy ;  but,  so  far  as  they  have 
tended  to  the  abolition  of  protection,  they  have  invariably  tended  to  the 
production  of  inequality.  The  wealthy  capitalist  suffers  some  loss ;  but  he 
is  not  ruined.  A  change  takes  place,  and  he  is  ready  to  avail  himself  of  it, 
and  at  once  regains  all  that  had  been  lost,  with  vast  increase.  The  small 
capitalist  has  been  swept  away,  and  his  mill  is  in  a  state  of  ruin.  By  the 
time  he  can  prepare  himself  to  recommence  his  business,  the  chance  being 
past,  he  is  swept  away  again,  and  perhaps  for  the  last  time. 

For  months  past,  the  rate  of  interest  on  a  certain  species  of  securities  has 
been  very  low.  The  wealthy  man  could  borrow  at  four  per  cent. ;  the  poor 
man,  requiring  a  small  loan  on  a  second-rate  security,  could  scarcely  obtain 
it  at  any  price.  The  man  who  has  coal  to  sell,  or  iron  to  sell,  must  have  the 
aid  of  middlemen  to  act  as  endorsers  upon  the  paper  received  from  his  cus¬ 
tomers,  and  their  commissions  absorb  the  profits.  The  wages  of  the  miner 
have  been  greatly  reduced,  while  the  profits  of  the  speculator  have  been 
increased.  The  reason  of  all  this  is,  that,  throughout  the  nation,  there  pre¬ 
vails  no  confidence  in  the  future.  It  is  seen  that  we  are  consuming  more 
than  we  produce ;  that  our  exports  do  not  pay  for  our  imports ;  that  we  are 
running  in  debt ;  that  furnaces  and  mills  are  being  closed ;  and  every  one 
knows  what  must  be  the  end  of  such  a  system.  Re-enact  the  tariff  of  1842, 
and  the  trade  of  the  middleman  would  be  at  an  end,  because  confidence  in 
the  future  would  be  felt  from  one  extremity  of  the  land  to  the  other.  Should 
we  not  find  in  this  some  evidence  of  the  soundness  of  the  principle  upon  which 
it  was  based  ?  The  system  which  gives  confidence  must  be  right ;  that  which 
destroys  it  must  be  wrong. 

Confidence  in  the  future — Hope — gives  power  to  individuals  and  commu¬ 
nities.  It  is  that  which  enables  the  poor  man  to  become  rich,  and  the  cha¬ 
racter  of  all  legislative  action  is  to  be  judged  by  its  greater  or  less  tend¬ 
ency  to  produce  this  effect.  A  review  of  the  measures  urged  upon  the  nation 
by  the  advocates  of  the  system  miscalled  free  trade,  shows,  almost  without 
an  exception,  they  have  tended  to  the  destruction  of  confidence,  and  there- 


THE  nARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


175 


fore  to  the  production  of  the  political  revolutions  referred  to  in  the  first 
chapter. 

The  direct  effect  of  the  insecurity  that  has  existed  has  been  to  centralize 
the  business  of  manufacture  in  one  part  of  the  Union  and  in  the  hands  of  a 
comparatively  limited  number  of  persons — such  as  could  afford  to  take  large 
risks,  in  hope  of  realizing  large  profits.  Had  the  tariff  of  1828  been  made 
the  settled  law  of  the  land,  the  Middle  and  Southern  States  would  now  be 
studded  with  factories  and  furnaces,  and  while  the  North  and  East  would  not 
have  been  less  rich,  they  would  be  far  richer,  and  the  present  inequality  of 
condition  would  not  now  exist. 

The  power  of  the  North,  as  compared  with  that  of  the  South,  is  due  to 
the  jealousy  of  the  former  entertained  by  the  latter,  which  has  prevented  the 
establishment  of  a  decided  system,  having  for  its  object  the  destruction  of 
the  English  monopoly,  and  the  ultimate  establishment  of  perfect  freedom  of 
trade. 

The  object  of  the  colonial  system  was  that  of  taxing  the  world  for  the 
maintenance  of  a  great  mercantile,  manufacturing,  and  landed  aristocracy,  and 
the  mode  of  accomplishment  was  that  of  securing  a  monopoly  of  machinery. 
The  object  of  protection  is  to  break  down  that  monopoty,  and  with  it  the 
aristocracy  that  collects  for  the  people  of  Great  Britain  and  the  world  these 
immense  taxes,  to  be  appropriated  to  the  payment  of  fleets  and  armies 
officered  by  younger  sons,  and  kept  on  foot  for  the  maintenance  of  the  exist¬ 
ing  inequality  in  Great  Britain,  Ireland,  and  India.  All,  therefore,  who 
desire  to  see  improvement  in  the  political  condition  of  the  people  of  the 
world  should  advocate  the  system  which  tends  to  break  down  monopoly  and 
establish  perfect  freedom  of  trade. 

CHAPTER  TWENTY-FOURTH. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  CREDIT — INDIVIDUAL  AND  NATIONAL. 

The  existence  of  credit  is  evidence  of  the  existence  of  confidence  that  the 
man  who  desires  to  obtain  for  a  time  the  use  of  property  intends  to  return  it. 
The  more  universal  this  confidence,  the  more  readily  can  the  capitalist  place 
his  funds,  and  the  larger  will  be  the  return.  The  more  universal  it  is,  the 
more  readily  can  the  labourer  obtain  the  necessary  aids  to  labour,  and  the 
more  productive  will  be  that  labour.  If  protection  be  “a  war  upon  labour 
and  capital/7  it  must  tend  to  destroy  the  confidence  of  man  in  his  fellow- 
man. 

The  object  of  protection  is  that  of  bringing  the  consumer  to  take  his  place 
by  the  side  of  the  producer,  exchanging  labour  for  labour,  and  thus  diminish¬ 
ing  the  necessity  for  credit.  Its  effect  is  to  diminish  the  machinery  of  ex¬ 
change,  and  thus  to  increase  the  productiveness  of  labour,  and  with  it  the 
power  to  obtain  credit. 

The  object  of  the  monopoly  system  is  that  of  separating  the  consumer 
from  the  producer,  and  compelling  both  to  repose  confidence  in  distant  men, 
thus  increasing  the  necessity  for  credit.  Its  effect  is  that  of  increasing  the 
machinery  of  exchange,  and  diminishing  the  productiveness  of  labour,  and 
thus  diminishing  the  power  to  obtain  credit. 

That  such  is  its  effect  in  the  colonies  of  Great  Britain,  we  know.  In 
India,  once  so  wealthy,  the  ordinary  rate  of  interest  is  twelve  per  cent. ;  but 
the  poor  cultivator  borrows  seed  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  per  cent.  Credit 
there  has  no  existence,  and  yet  almost  the  whole  exchanges  of  the  country  are 
made  at  a  distance  of  many  thousands  of  miles,  by  men  in  whom  the  con¬ 
sumer  and  producer  are  compelled  to  repose  confidence. 

In  the  West  Indies,  credit  has  almost  entirely  disappeared.  In  Canada, 


176 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


even  the  government  cannot  effect  loans  without  a  guaranty  from  parlia¬ 
ment.  So  is  it  throughout  the  whole  range  of  colonies. 

At  home,  capital  is  cheap,  because  of  the  want  of  general  confidence.  The 
capitalist  takes  two  per  cent. ;  but  the  labourer  could  not  borrow  at  thirty 
per  cent.  The  capitalist  that  owns  machinery  is  enabled  to  dictate  the  terms 
upon  which  it  shall  be  used  by  those  who  work.  Sometimes  he  employs  many 
work-people.  At  others  few.  Sometimes  he  works  long  time,  and  at  others 
short  time.  At  all  times  his  people  obtain  but  a  small  proportion  of  the 
products  of  labour ;  but  at  many  times  they  obtain  but  a  very  small  propor¬ 
tion,  while  at  others  they  are  unable  to  obtain  the  use  of  machinery  at  any 


Abroad,  the  credit  of  English  merchants  is  falling  daily.  But  recently, 
there  were  in  the  great  city  of  Liverpool,  scarcely  half  a  dozen  houses  that 
could  be  trusted  with  a  cargo  of  cotton.  Such  are  the  effects  of  the  system 
in  which  “  Commerce  is  king,”  and  the  consumer  and  the  producer  are  placed 

at  the  mercy  of  the  exchanger.  . 

At  no  period  in  this  country  did  confidence  grow  more  rapidly  than  m  the 
period  between  1830  and  1834.  At  none  did  it  decline  with  such  rapidity 
as  between  1835  and  1842.  "With  the  action  of  the  tariff  of  1842,  it  was 
restored,  but  with  that  of  1846  it  again  declines.  There  is  no  demand  for 
capital,  and  it  is  cheap.  There  is  little  demand  for  labour,  and  it  too  is 
cheap. 

Never,  probably,  since  the  settlement  of  the  country,  did  the  poor  man 
find  so  much  difficulty  in  obtaining  the  aid  of  capital,  as  in  1842,  the  period 
of  free  trade.  Never  has  he  found  it  more  easy  than  between  1844  and 
1847.  The  period  of  distrust  has  again  arrived.  Money  is  said  to  be 
abundant,  but  the  security  must  be  undoubted,  and  the  poor  man  pays  two 
per  cent,  a  month  for  the  use  of  capital  that  the  rich  man  cannot  invest  to 
produce  him  more  than  four  per  cent,  per  annum.  There  is  no  confidence 


existing. 

“  Notwithstanding  the  cheapness  and  abundance  of  money,  says  the  JNew 
York  Herald,  “  no  one  seems  disposed  to  touch  any  thing  in  the_  way  of 
speculation,  and  capitalists  prefer  loaning  money  at  four  per  cent,  interest, 
on  good  security,  to  purchasing  stocks  at  present  prices. .  They  say  that  when 
they  lend  money  on  first-rate  security,  at  a  low  rate  of  interest,  they  are  sure 
of  the  principal  and  a  small  amount  of  interest,  when  they  want  it.” 

The  re-establishment  of  the  tariff  of  1842  would  restore  confidence,  and 
produce  a  demand  for  labour,  and  wages  would  rise — and  a  demand  for 
capital,  the  price  of  which  would  also  rise,  and  thus  it  would  appear  that  in 
protection  is  to  be  found  the  harmony  of  interest  between  the  labourer  and 
the  capitalist. 


NATIONAL  CREDIT. 

From  1830  to  1835,  the  national  credit  grew,  for  we  paid  for  what  we 
imported.  From  1835  to  1840,  credit  declined,  for  we  ran  largely  in  debt  for 
cloth  and  iron,  for  which  our  exports  could  not  pay.  In  1842,  national  credit 
disappeared,  for  we  were  unable  to  pay  even  the  interest  on  our  debts.  From 
1843  to  1848,  national  credit  grew,  for  we  paid  interest  and  commenced  the 
reduction  of  the  debt.  In  the  last  two  years  we  have  gone  largely  in  debt,  and 
must  now  either  diminish  our  imports  or  run  further  into  debt. 

How  long  we  can  continue  to  do  this,  does  not  depend  upon  ourselves. 
Any  circumstance  producing  a  change  in  the  rate  of  interest  in  Europe, 
would  cause  our  certificates  of  debt  to  be  returned  upon  us  for  payment,  and 
what  then  would  be  the  state  of  the  national  credit  ?  A  nation  that  is  largely 
in  debt  is  always  in  danger  of  losing  its  credit. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


177 


CHAPTER  TWENTY-FIFTH. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE. 

The  more  men  live  and  work  in  connection  with  each  other,  the  greater  is 
their  power  to  protect  themselves.  The  more  widely  they  are  separated 
from  each  other,  the  greater  is  their  necessity  for  seeking  protection  from 
others. 

The  more  they  live  in  connection  with  each  other,  the  larger  will  be  the 
product  of  their  labour,  and  the  greater  will  be  their  power  to  contribute 
towards  the  maintenance  of  peace  and  order.  The  less  they  live  in  con¬ 
nection  with  each  other,  the  less  productive  will  be  their  labour,  and  the  less 
will  be  their  power  to  contribute  to  that  object. 

With  every  increase  in  the  productiveness  of  labour,  the  power  of  self- 
government  thus  increases,  with  increased  power  to  contribute  towards  the 
expenditures  incident  to  the  maintenance  of  government ;  and  with  every  di¬ 
minution  therein,  the  power  of  self-government  decreases,  with  diminished 
power  to  contribute  towards  the  public  revenue  required  for  paying  others 
for  performing  the  duties  of  government. 

If  protection  be,  as  is  asserted,  a  u  war  upon  labour  and  capital,”  it  must 
increase  the  necessity  for  government  by  others,  and  diminish  the  power  to 
contribute  towards  its  maintenance. 

The  object  of  protection  is,  however,  that  of  enabling  men  to  live  in  con¬ 
nection  with  each  other,  the  consumer  taking  his  place  by  the  side  of  the 
producer,  each  protecting,  and  protected  by,  the  other.  This  would  seem  to 
diminish  the  necessity  for  seeking  protection  from  others.  Another  object  of 
protection  is  that  of  enabling  men  to  exchange  with  each  other,  giving  labour 
for  labour,  without  paying  so  many  persons  for  standing  between  them. 
This  would  seem  calculated  to  increase  their  power  to  pay  for  protection, 
should  it  be  needed. 

The  object  of  the  monopoly  system — now  known  by  the  name  of  free  trade 
— is  that  of  separating  the  consumer  from  the  producer,  and  diminishing 
their  power  to  protect  each  other.  Their  exchanges  are  to  be  always  made 
in  distant  markets,  and  many  wagons,  ships,  and  men  are  to  stand  between, 
for  the  care  of  which  fleets  and  armies  are  needed.  This  would  seem  to  in¬ 
crease  their  necessity  for  protection,  while  the  diminished  power  of  combina¬ 
tion  of  action  would  seem  to  tend  to  decrease  their  power  of  paying  for  pro¬ 
tection. 

How  stand  the  facts  ?  The  question  will  be  answered  by  placing  side  by 
side  the  expenditures  under  the  different  systems  : — 

Protection.  Free  trade. 

Per  annum.  Per  annum. 

1829  to  1834  .  $16,800,000  1834  to  1841  .  $31,700,000 

1843  to  1845  .  20,700,000  1846  to  1849  .  44,500,000 

The  necessity  for  contributing  towards  the  support  of  government  seems  to 
have  increased  with  the  approach  towards  free  trade,  and  to  have  diminished 
as  we  approached  protection. 

The  revenue  from  customs  in  the  several  periods,  was  as  follows : — 

Per  head.  Per  head. 

1830  to  1834  .  .  $1*75  1835  to  1841  .  .  0-84J 

1843  to  1847  .  .  1-36  1848-49  .  .  .  1— 

I  exclude  here  the  year  1847-48,  because  it  was  an  entirely  exceptional 
one.  We  had  imported  a  large  amount  of  free  goods — specie — in  the  pre¬ 
ceding  year,  and  we  exported  it  again  in  1847—48,  to  exchange  for  duty- 


178 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


paying  ones,  and  the  whole  amount  of  duty  received  upon  the  goods  so  ob¬ 
tained  in  exchange,  should  be  added  to  the  revenue  of  1846-47. 

The  power  to  contribute  towards  the  revenue  certainly  decreased  in  the 
years  of  free  trade,  and  precisely  as  the  necessity  for  contributions  increased. 
The  amount  actually  paid  was  greater  than  is  here  set  down,  because  the 
government  collected,  between  1834  and  1841,  a  large  amount  of  duties  upon 
goods  received  in  exchange  for  certificates  of  debt  j  but  that  was  merely  a 
payment  in  advance  of  production,  and  the  consequence  of  receiving  such 
payment  was,  that  it  was  nearly  bankrupt  in  1842,  and  compelled  to  borrow 
almost  thirty  millions  to  provide  for  the  continuance  of  its  own  existence. 

We  are  now  doing  the  same  thing.  The  amount  of  debt  incurred  in  the 
last  year  was  not  less  than  twenty-two  millions,  and  upon  this  the  govern¬ 
ment  obtained  duties,  as  before,  in  advance  of  production,  to  the  extent  of 
almost  seven  millions.  If  the  power  to  buy  on  credit  were  now  to  cease,  the 
amount  collected  would  fall  to  twenty-two  millions.  Were  the  debt  con¬ 
tracted  last  year  now  to  be  paid,  it  would  fall  to  fifteen  millions,  and  a  large 
addition  would  have  to  be  made  to  the  public  debt,  as  in.  1841-42.  How 
long  a  time  is  to  elapse  before  such  will  be  the  state  of  things,  it  is  not.  f°r 
me  to  predict ;  but  if  we  make  this  year  a  further  addition  of  twenty  millions 
to  our  foreign  debt,  and  close  as  many  furnaces  as  we  did  in  the  last  one,  the 
day  for  it  cannot  be  far  distant. 

The  power  to  contribute  towards  the  maintenance  of  government  depends 
upon  the  power  of  production,  and  every  circumstance  tending  to  diminish 
the  one  tends  equally  to  the  diminution  of  the  other.  The  power  of  pro¬ 
duction  is  now  rapidly  diminishing,  and  must  continue  so  to  do. 

Such  likewise  is  the  case  in  England.  From  year  to  year  the  payment,  of 
taxes  is  becoming  more  and  more  onerous,  notwithstanding  so  large  a  portion 
of  them  is  thrown  upon  the  farmers  and  planters  of  the  earth,  by  aid  of  the 
system  under  which  they  are  compelled  to  give  more  food,  cotton,  tobacco, 
and  sugar,  for  less  and  less  cloth  and  iron )  and  yet  from  year,  to  year  the 
expenditures  have  been  increasing.  Poverty  produced  rebellion  in  Ireland, 
and  chartism  in  England,  and  thus  increased  the  necessity  for  soldiers  and 
sailors.  The  exhaustion  of  the  older  provinces  of  India  led  to  a  desire  for 
Affghanistan,  Scinde,  and  the  Punjaub ;  and  the  failure  of  a  market  for 
labour  in  the  form  of  cotton,  drove  the  Hindoo  to  opium,  which  led  to  a  war 
in  China,  and  thus  was  made  a  demand  for  fleets  and  armies.  The  poverty 
of  Canada  led  to  rebellion,  and  to  the  building  of  forts  and  ships.  The 
anxiety  to  secure  foreign  markets  has  led  to  immense  expenses  for  steam¬ 
ships  and  mail  steamers,  and  thus  the  more  the  system  tends  to  fail,  the 
greater  is  the  expenditure  for  its  maintenance,  and  the  less  the  ability  of  the 
people  of  England,  and  the  farmers  and  planters  of  the  world,  to  contribute 
thereto. 

Let  us  now  look  to  the  other  source  of  our  national  revenue — the  public 
lands. 

The  higher  the  value  of  labour,  the  more  of  it  will  be  brought  here  for 
sale.  The  more  people  come  here,  the  more  land  will  be  required.  The 
larger  and  more  valuable  the  freights  homeward,  the  less  will  be.  the  cost  of 
freight  outward,  and  the  more  numerous  will  be  the  commodities  that  can 
be  exported  to  pay  for  those  we  may  choose  to  import. 

Were  we  now  importing  a  million  of  men  annually,  the  sales  of  land  would 
soon  reach  ten  millions  of  acres  per  annum.  That  point  we  should  now  reach 
in  five  years  of  perfect  and  fixed  protection,  and  but  few  more  years  would 
be  required  to  double  both  the  importation  of  men  and  the  sales  of  public 
lands.  Here  is  a  vast  source  of  public  revenue. 

Perfect  protection  would,  by  degrees,  diminish  the  import  of  cottons,  iron, 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


179 


and  other  duty-paying  goods,  hut  we  should  consume  treble  or  quadruple  the 
quantity  of  coffee,  tea,  and  the  raw  materials  for  the  production  of  which  the 
soil  or  climate  of  the  country  is  not  suited,  and  thus  should  we  raise  the 
value  of  labour  employed  in  agriculture  throughout  the  world. 

It  is  asked,  “If  we  converted  all  our  cotton  into  cloth,  what  would  Europe 
produce  to  pay  us  for  it  ?”  In  answer,  it  may  be  said  that  the  object  of  pro¬ 
tection  is  that  of  enabling  the  consumer  of  food  to  take  his  place  by  the  side 
of  the  producer  of  food,  not  to  separate  them.  It  is  to  our  interest  that  the 
people  of  England  should  supply  themselves  with  clothing  made  by  men  who 
eat  the  food  of  England,  and  that  such  should  be  the  case  with  those  of  Ger¬ 
many  and  Russia,  Spain  and  Italy,  and  with  every  step  in  their  progress  they 
would  need  more  cotton.  To  pay  for  it,  they  would  employ  their  labour  in  the 
production  of  thousands  of  articles  of  taste  and  luxury,  of  which  we  should 
then  consume  immense  quantities,  and  therewith  there  would  be  improvement 
of  taste,  refinement  of  feeling,  elevation  of  character,  and  increase  of  indi¬ 
vidual  and  national  strength,  of  which  now  we  can  form  no  conception. 

Upon  such  commodities  the  duties  would  be  moderate,  and,  as  the  imports 
of  the  more  bulky  of  the  duty-paying  articles  diminished,  the  customs’ 
revenue  would  gradually  decline,  until  at  length  the  necessity  for  custom-houses 
would  pass  away,  the  power  to  maintain  government  with  the  land  revenue 
having  grown  to  take  its  place,  and  thus  might  be  realized  the  wonderful 
idea  of  the  government  of  an  immense  nation  maintained  without  the  neces¬ 
sity  for  a  single  man  employed  in  the  collection  of  taxes. 

It  would  tlius  appear  that  between  the  interests  of  the  treasury  and  the 
people,  the  farmer,  planter,  manufacturer,  and  merchant,  the  great  and  little 
trader  and  the  shipowner,  the  slave  and  his  master,  the  landowners  and  la¬ 
bourers  of  the  Union  and  the  world,  the  free  trader  and  the  advocate  of 
protection,  there  is  perfect  harmony  of  interests,  and  that  the  way  to  the 
establishment  of  universal  peace  and  universal  free  trade,  is  to  be  found  in 
the  adoption  of  measures  tending  to  the  destruction  of  the  monopoly  of  ma¬ 
chinery ,  and  the  location  of  the  loom  and  the  anvil  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
plough  and  the  harrow. 

CHAPTER  TWENTY-SIXTH. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

The  man  whose  labour  is  productive,  and  whose  habits  are  economical, 
enjoys  the  confidence  of  the  world;  while  he  whose  labour  is  unproductive, 
and  whose  habits  are  wasteful,  is  looked  upon  with  distrust.  With  the  one, 
each  day  is  marked  by  an  increase  of  strength ;  while  with  the  other  it  is 
marked  by  an  increase  of  weakness. 

So  is  it  with  communities.  The  peaceful  and  industrious  grow  rich  and 
strong.  The  warlike  and  wasteful  become  poor  and  weak. 

If  protection  be  “  a  war  upon  the  labour  and  capital  of  the  world,”  it  must 
tend  to  cause  diminution  of  wealth  and  strength,  and  the  monopoly  system  of 
England  must  tend  to  the  augmentation  of  both. 

At  no  anterior  period  had  the  wealth  and  strength  of  this  country  grown 
with  the  rapidity  with  which  it  grew  from  1830  to  1835.  The  nation  was  at 
peace  and  all  were  employed.  At  no  period  has  decline  been  so  obvious,  or 
the  descent  more  complete  than  in  the  period  which  followed.  The  nation 
was  at  war,  and  production  declined  until  in  many  departments  of  industry 
it  almost  ceased.  The  name  of  America  became  almost  a  by-word  for  weak¬ 
ness  and  want  of  faith.  In  the  four  succeeding  years,  the  recovery  was  such 
as  to  be  almost  marvellous,  and  then  it  was  that  the  power  of  the  nation  first 
began  to  be  admitted.  That  period  has  been  followed  by  one  of  war  and  waste, 


180 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


I 


and  largely  increased  expenditure,  rendering  necessary  the  collection  of  large 
revenues,  while  production  is  diminishing.  The  people  and  the  government 
are  now  living  on  borrowed  money,  and  how  long  they  can  continue  to  borrow 
is  uncertain.  The  revenue  from  customs  in  the  year  ending  in  June  last 

was . .  .  •  $28,436,000 

Of  which  there  was  collected  on  goods  purchased  with  certifi¬ 
cates  of  debt  6,600,000 

To  meet  the  demands  of  the  government  for  the  present  year,  the  whole 
sum  of  $28,000,000  would  be  required,  and,  if  we  should  cease  to  be  able 
to  purchase  merchandise  on  credit,  the  government  would  be  driven  again 
to  the  raising  of  money  by  means  of  loans,  and  if  at  the  same  time  the  debts 
now  being  created  were  sent  back  upon  us  for  payment,  the  present  year 
might  witness  a  repetition  of  the  troubles  of  1841  and  1842. 

During  the  existence  of  the  tariff  of  1842,  the  government  paid  its  way, 
and  therefore  it  was  strong.  It  is  now  carried  on  on  credit,  and  therefore  it  is 
becoming  weak.  To  the  extent  of  the  foreign  debt  created,  the  country  has 
eaten  and  drunk  and  used  that  for  which  it  has  yet  to  pay,  and  the  govern¬ 
ment  has  had  its  thirty  per  cent. ;  but  a  demand  for  payment  would  at  once 
reduce  the  imports  as  much  below  the  exports  as  they  now  exceed  them,  and 
the  government  would  find  its  revenue  decreased  to  the  full  extent  of  the 
present  excess. 

The  contrast  presented,  on  a  review  of  the  history  of  Great  Britain  and 
this  country,  is  most  instructive.  Sixty  years  since,  the  former  was  rich  and 
populous,  while  the  latter  was  poor  and  its  population  was  small  and  widely 
scattered.  In  wealth,  the  Union  already  exceeds  her  competitor,  and  in 
population  it  will  do  so  at  the  close  of  the  next  decennial  period. 

The  reason  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact,  that  the  policy  of  the  one 
has  tended  to  the  separation  of  the  consumer  from  the  producer,  while  that  of 
the  other  has,  to  some  extent,  tended  towards  bringing  them  together.  The 
English  system  is  based  upon  “  ships,  colonies,  and  commerce,”  and,  in  carry¬ 
ing^  out,  her  colonies  have  been  in  succession  exhausted.  Ireland  now  lies 
prostrate  and  helpless — a  burden  upon  her  hands — an  encumbrance  rather  than 
an  advantage.  Poverty  and  distress  are  coming  gradually  nearer  and  nearer 
home,  while  she  is  encumbered  with  an  enormous  debt,  no  part  of  which  can 
she  pay,  and  the  interest  upon  which  is  yet  paid  only  by  aid  of  a  series  of 
repudiations  quite  as  discreditable  as  those  with  which  she  is  accustomed  to 
charge  upon  Mississippi  and  Florida.* 

The  American  system  is  based  upon  agriculture,  the  work  of  production, 
and  its  object  has  been  that  of  producing  prosperous  agriculture,  by  bringing 
the  consumer  to  take  his  place  by  the  side  of  the  producer,  and  thus  es¬ 
tablishing  that  great  commerce  which  is  performed  without  the  aid  of  ships 
or  wagons.  By  aid  of  that  system  the  original  thirteen  States  have  planted 
numerous  colonies,  all  of  which  have  grown  and  thriven,  giving  and  receiving 
strength,  while  those  of  England,  so  long  the  subjects  of  immense  taxation, 
are  now  everywhere  a  cause  of  weakness.  All  desire  to  abandon  her,  while 
all  would  desire  to  unite  with  us,  and  were  they  at  liberty  to  exercise  their 


*  The  great  expansion  of  the  Bank  of  England  in  1839,  was  followed  by  the  destruc¬ 
tion  of  confidence  among  individuals  to  so  great  an  extent  that  the  three  per  cents  went 
up  to  par,  and  the  government  availed  itself  of  the  opportunity  to  compel  the  holders  of 
the  four  and  a  half  per  cents  to  take  in  exchange  new  certificates,  bearing  three  and  a 
half  per  cent.  Shortly  after  the  threes  fell  to  eighty.  The  last  expansion  has  brought 
about  a  similar  state  of  things.  Confidence  is  destroyed,  and  trade  is  paralyzed,  and  the 
threes  are  aeain  almost  at  par  ;  and  it  is  now  suggested  that  a  new  arrangement  may  be 
made  by  which  the  government  may  be  enabled  to  repudiate  a  further  portion  of  the  inte¬ 
rest  on  the  debt. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


181 


inclinations,  the  sway  of  the  Queen  of  Great  Britain  would,  probably,  at  the 
close  of  the  present  year,  be  limited  to  that  island  alone,  with  its  twenty  or 
twenty-two  millions  of  inhabitants. 

The  free  trade  of  England  consists  in  the  maintenance  of  monopoly ,  and 
therefore  is  it  repulsive.  The  protective  system  of  this  country  looks  to  the 
breaking  down  of  monopoly,  and  the  establishment  of  perfect  free  trade ,  and 
therefore  is  it  attractive. 

The  one  looks  to  u  cheap  ”  labour,  and  therefore  does  it  expel  individuals 
as  well*as  communities.  The  other  looks  to  raising  the  value  of  labour,  and 
therefore  does  it  attract  both  individuals  and  communities. 

Protection  tends  to  the  maintenance  of  peace,  and  the  increase  of  wealth 
and  power.  The  colonial  system  tends  to  the  production  of  causes  of  war, 
and  the  diminution  and  ultimate  destruction  of  both  wealth  and  power. 

Between  the  views  of  those  who  would  desire  to  see  their  government 
strong  for  defending  them  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  their  rights  in  relation  to 
the  other  communities  of  the  world,  and  those  of  others  who  desire  to  see 
the  government  peacefully  and  economically  administered,  there  is  therefore 
perfect  harmony. 


CHAPTER  TWENTY-SEVENTH. 

HOW  PROTECTION  AFFECTS  THE  NATION. 

The  man  whose  labour  is  productive,  exercises  the  power  of  self-govern¬ 
ment,  which  increases  with  every  increase  in  the  productiveness  of  his 
labour.  With  every  diminution  in  his  power  of  production,  he  loses  more 
and  more  the  power  of  self-government,  and  ultimately  becomes  a  slave.* 

So  is  it  with  nations.  With  every  increase  in  the  productiveness  of  their  labour, 
they  are  more  enabled  to  determine  for  themselves  their  own  course  of  action, 
uninfluenced  by  that  of  surrounding  nations.  With  every  diminution  therein, 
they  are  more  and  more  compelled  to  shape  their  course  of  action  by  that  of 
others,  losing  the  power  of  self-government. 

With  the  diminished  necessity  for  combination  with  their  neighbours,  there 
is  an  increased  power  for  voluntary  combination,  (annexation,)  tending  still  « 
further  to  increase  the  return  to  labour.  With  increased  necessity  for  com¬ 
bination,  there  is  diminished  power  for  voluntary  combination,  with  diminished 
return  to  labour. 

If  protection  be  11  a  war  upon  labour  and  capital/’  it  must  diminish  the 
power  of  voluntary  union,  and  increase  the  necessity  for  uniting  our  efforts 
with  those  of  distant  nations.  If  the  English  monopoly  system  tend  to  in¬ 
crease  the  value  of  labour  and  capital,  it  must  tend  to  increase  the  power 
of  voluntary  union,  and  diminish  the  necessity  for  involuntary  union. 

Of  all  the  nations  of  the  world,  there  is,  at  the  present  time,  not  one  that 
exercises  in  a  less  degree  the  power  of  self-government  than  that  of  Great 
Britain.  For  the  last  thirty  years,  her  policy  has  been  dictated  by  others. 
The  repeal  of  the  laws  prohibiting  the  export  of  machinery  was  a  matter  of 
necessity,  and  so  have  been,  in  succession,  all  the  laws  relative  to  duties  on 
imports.  The  duty  on  cotton  was  abolished  because  other  nations  had  ob¬ 
tained  machinery.  Slave-grown  cotton  was  admitted  duty  free,  while  slave- 
grown  sugar  was  subjected  to  heavy  duties,  because  a  supply  of  cotton  was 


*  11  The  transition  from  absolute  freedom  to  a  state  of  slavery  is  now  in  progress  among 
the  Arabs  of  Mesopotamia,  owing  to  diminished  power  of  obtaining  the  means  of  sub¬ 
sistence  by  the  modes  heretofore  pursued.  The  poor  and  the  weak  are  enslaved  by 
those  who  are  stronger  and  more  wealthy.” — Spectator ,  March ,  1840. 


182 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


matter  of  necessity.  The  restrictions  on  slave-grown  sugar  were  abandoned, 
because  the  abandonment  was  necessary.  The  navigation  laws  have,  step  by 
step,  been  abandoned,  as  matter  of  necessity.  The  corn  laws  were  repealed 
because  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  conciliate  the  growers  of  corn  into  be¬ 
coming  large  purchasers  of  cloth  and  iron.  With  each  step  in  her  progress, 
pauperism  and  crime  increase,  and  the  necessity  for  places  of  banishment 
for  criminals  increases,  and  with  each  there  is  increased  difficulty  in  finding 
places  willing  to  receive  them.  Having  exhausted  Yan  Diemen’s  land,*  and 
Norfolk  Island,  the  Cape  was  recently  selected  for  the  purpose,  but  the 
colonists  have  set  an  example  of  successful  resistance  that  will  be  elsewhere 
followed.  Canada  is  now  to  be  set  free,  and  Ireland  is  to  be  retained,  neither 
of  them  of  choice,  but  both  as  matters  of  necessity.  The  nation  has  lost  the 
power  of  self-government.  Its  policy  is  being  dictated  to  it  by  the  other 
nations  of  the  world.  The  tendency  to  voluntary  union  has  ceased  to  exist, 
and  each  day  brings  with  it  new  evidence  that  the  dissolution  of  the  British 
empire  is  at  hand. 

If  such  is  the  case  with  the  owners  of  the  loom  and  the  anvil,  how  is  it 
with  their  subjects  who  hold  the  plough  and  follow  the  harrow  ?  Ireland 
has  no  power  of  self-government.  She  is  a  mere  machine  in  the  hands  of 
those  who  perform  the  duties  of  government.  Poor-laws  are  inflicted  upon 
her  to  such  an  extent  as  almost  to  amount  to  a  confiscation  of  property,  and 
then  other  laws  are  passed  to  authorize  commissioners  to  take  possession  of, 
and  sell,  a  large  portion  of  the  property  of  the  kingdom,  thus  encumbered. 

The  West  Indies  were  gradually  exhausted  under  the  system,  and  their 
people  despoiled  of  their  property  by  virtue  of  laws  passed  by  men  who 
paid  no  portion  of  the  enormous  loss  thus  inflicted  upon  their  fellow-subjects. 
The  people  of  Canada  have  had  new  systems  inflicted  upon  them  with  a 
view  to  the  maintenance  of  peace,  but  peace  there  is  none.  All  desire  to 
obtain  the  right  of  self-government,  the  first  step  in  which  will  be  resistance 
to  the  monopoly  system. 

Of  all  the  colonies  of  England,  the  only  one  that  has  prospered  is  this 
Union,  and  it  has  so  done,  because  it  has,  in  a  certain  degree,  exercised  the 
power  of  self-government,  manifested  by  a  determination  to  bring  the  loom 
and  the  anvil  to  take  their  natural  places  by  the  side  of  the  plough  and  the 
harrow.  Hence  it  is  that  every  colony  of  Great  Britain,  Ireland  included, 
desires  annexation  to  us  and  separation  from  her.  The  tendency  to  voluntary 
union  exists  in  a  degree  exceeding  any  thing  that  the  world  has  yet  seen. 
Nevertheless,  we  are  yet  but  little  more  than  a  colony.  Our  people  have  no 
control  over  their  own  actions.  They  are  almost  as  dependent  upon  the  will 
of  those  who  now  desire,  though  vainly,  to  guide  the  movements  of  England, 
as  are  those  of  Canada. 

If  the  people  of  that  country  determine  to  make  railroads,  iron  rises  in 
price,  and  we  build  furnaces  and  open  coal  mines,  and  import  people  to  make 
iron  and  mine  coal.  If  they  cease  to  make  roads,  we  shut  up  our  furnaces 


*  «  Thither  nearly  the  whole  convict  population  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  about  3500 
annually  in  number,  were  sent  for  several  years.  *  *  The  consequence  was,  that  ere 

long  three-fifths  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  colony  were  convicts.  *  *  The  morals  of  the 

settlement,  thus  having  a  majority  of  convicts,  were  essentially  injured.  Crimes  unut¬ 
terable  were  committed  ;  the  hideous  inequality  of  the  sexes  induced  its  usual  and 
frightful  disorders ;  the  police,  how  severe  and  vigilant  soever,  became  unable  to  coerce 
the  rapidly  increasing  multitude  of  criminals ;  the  most  daring  fled  to  the  woods,  where 
they  became  bush-rangers ;  life  became  insecure,  and  property  sank  to  half  its  former 
value.” — Blackwood's  Magazine ,  November ,  1849.  <l  At  present,  there  are,  or  at  least  should 
be,  above  5000  criminals  annually  transported  from  the  British  Islands.” — Ibid. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


183 


and  mines,  and  then  the  iron  men  and  the  coal  men  have  to  endeavour  to  raise 
food.  If  they  ask  a  high  price  for  cloth,  we  build  mills.  If  employment  be¬ 
come  scarce  with  them,  and  their  people  cease  to  consume  cloth,  we  close  our 
mills,  and  our  operatives  are  condemned  to  idleness.  If  the  Bank  of  England 
make  money  cheap,  we  buy  iron  and  cloth  on  credit ;  if  it  make  it  dear,  we 
are  called  upon  for  payment,  and  then  we  break.  If  employment  for  capital 
be  denied  at  home,  our  houses  and  lands  rise  in  price ;  if  capital  become 
scarce,  our  houses  and  lands  fall  in  value.  If  we  build  mills  and  furnaces, 
our  people  stay  at  home ;  if  we  close  them,  they  scatter  abroad.  If  money 
be  cheap  in  England,  our  government  obtains  a  large  revenue  from  duties  on 
the  goods  that  are  bought  on  credit  •  if  it  be  dear,  the  revenue  falls  off,  and 
the  government  begs  for  loans  in  Europe.  The  value  of  every  thing,  and 
the  movement  of  every  thing,  in  this  country,  are  settled  by  the  movement 
of  the  Bank  of  England,  of  all  the  large  institutions  of  the  world  the  one 
in  the  government  of  which  there  is  manifested  the  least  capacity;  and  the 
one,  consequently,  that  possesses  in  the  smallest  degree  the  power  of  self- 
government.  Four  times  in  thirty  years  has  it  been  on  the  verge  of  bank¬ 
ruptcy,  and  yet  to  its  car  and  that  of  the  government  of  England,  now 
floundering  in  a  sea  of  troubles,  is  this  Union  attached  by  aid  of  the  system 
now  known  by  the  name  of  free  trade. 

For  thus  relinquishing  the  power  of  self-government,  there  should  be  a 
large  consideration ;  yet  all  that  we  receive  from  Europe  in  return  for  all  we 
send  her  is  fifty  cents’  worth  of  iron,  half  a  pound  of  wool,  as  much  flax,  an 
ounce  or  two  of  silk,  a  cup  and  saucer,  and  the  weaving  and  twisting  of  a  pound 
and  a  half  of  cotton,  per  head,  all  of  which  could  be  produced  or  performed 
here  by  fewer  people  than  have  come  here  in  a  single  year,  when  we  have  made 
a  market  for  their  labour.  Half  a  million  of  people  would  produce  treble  the 
flax,  the  wool,  the  silk,  and  the  iron,  the  china-ware,  and  spin  and  weave  treble 
the  quantity  of  silk,  wool,  flax,  and  cotton,  that  we  receive  from  Europe  in  re¬ 
turn  for  all  the  land  and  labour  employed  in  producing  the  cotton,  tobacco,  rice, 
grain,  butter,  cheese,  pork,  and  other  commodities  that  we  send  to  that  quar¬ 
ter  of  the  world ;  and  that  half  million  would  consume  almost  as  much  cot¬ 
ton  as  is  now  consumed  by  all  the  people  of  Ireland,  besides  being  cus¬ 
tomers  to  the  farmer  for  fifty  millions  of  dollars’  worth  of  food,  timber,  and 
other  of  the  products  of  the  soil.  We  thus  relinquish  the  power  of  self- 
government,  not  only  without  receiving  an  equivalent,  but  we  give  our  pro¬ 
perty  without  an  equivalent,  and  therefore  it  is  that  the.  farmers  and  planters 
of  the  Union  remain  poor  when  they  might  become  rich. 

Rich  they  would  grow,  for  the  people  thus  imported  would  require  a  vast 
amount  of  shipping,  and  cotton,  rice,  and  tobacco  would  go  cheaply  abroad, 
while  a  vast  consumption  at  home  would  maintain  the  price,  and  both  farmer 
and  planter  would  be  enabled  to  consume  more  largely  of  coffee,  tea,  silks, 
books,  pictures,  gold,  silver,  and  all  other  articles  of  necessity  or  luxury  not 
produced  at  home,  and  the  producers  of  those  commodities  would  consume 
more  cloth  and  iron,  both  of  which  we  should  then  produce  so  cheaply  that 
we  could  send  them  abroad,  and  thus  would  come  wealth  and  prosperity, 
happiness  and  independence.  _ 

To  the  consciousness  of  the  necessity  for  protection  against  the  monopoly 
system  was  due  the  state  of  feeling  that  led  to  the  Revolution.  Resistance 
to  oppression  led,  on  various  occasions,  to  non-importation  resolutions,  and 
the  people  were  everywhere  urged  to  endeavour  to  clothe  themselves.  The 
necessity  for  protection  was  recognised  by  the  early  Congresses,  and  its  im¬ 
portance  urged  upon  them  by  every  administration. 

Fifty  years  since,  power  changed  hands ;  but  with  the  accession  of  Mr. 


184 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


Jefferson  came  no  change  of  policy.  He  thought  “  the  manufacturer  should 
take  his  place  by  the  side  of  the  agriculturist.”  From  that  time,  for  a  period 
of  thirty-six  years,  every  chief  magistrate,  elected  by  the  people ,  was  from  the 
planting  States  of  the  Union,  and  all  of  them  elected  by  the  same  party 
that  elected  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  each  and  every  one  of  them  was  an  advocate 
of  the  system  which  tended  to  bring  the  loom  to  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
plough,  and  thus  to  make  a  market  on  the  land  for  the  products  of  the  land. 
By  the  last  of  these,  his  views  on  this  subject  were  forcibly  expressed  in  a 
letter  that  has  frequently  been  published,  and  from  which  the  following  is  an 
extract : 

cc  X  will  ask,  what  is  the  real  situation  of  the  agriculturist  ?  Where  has  the  American 
farmer  a  market  for  his  surplus  produce?  Except  for  cotton,  he  has  neither  a  foreign 
nor  home  market.  Does  not  this  clearly  prove,  when  there  is  no  maiket  either  at  home 
or  abroad,  that  there  is  too  much  labour  employed  in  agriculture,  and  that  the  channels 
for  labour  should  be  multiplied  ?  Common  sense  points  out  at  once  the  remedy  ;  draw  Irom 
agriculture  this  superabundant  labour,  employ  it  in  mechanism  and  manufactures, 
thereby  creating  a  home  market  for  your  breadstuffs,  and  distributing  labour  to  the  most 
profitable  account,  and  benefits  to  the  country  will  result.  Take  from  agriculture  in  the 
United  States  six  hundred  thousand  men,  women,  and  children,  and  you  will  at  once  give 
a  home  market  for  more  breadstuffs  than  all  Europe  now  furnishes  us.  In  short,  sir,  we 
have  been  too  long  subject  to  the  policy  of  British  merchants.  It  is  true  that  w  e  should 
become  a  little  more  Americanized,  and,  instead  of  feeding  the  paupers  and  labourers 
of  England,  [as  we  do  by  sending  there  for  her  manufactures,]  feed  our  own ;  or  else, 
in  a  short  time,  by  continuing  our  present  [free  trade]  policy,  we  shall  all  be  rendered 
paupers  ourselves.’' — President  Jackson. 

At  the  close  of  that  period  there  was  a  change  of  policy.  Elected  by  the 
game  party  that  had  elected  his  predecessor,  Mr.  Van  Bnren  adopted  the 
policy  which  tends  to  the  separation  of  the  consumer  from  the  producer,  to 
the  impoverishment  of  the  land  and  its  owner,  and  the  maintenance  of  the 
monopoly  system  by  which  England  had  acquired  the  control  of  the  move¬ 
ments  of  the  world.  The  effects  were  disastrous,  as  may  be  seen  by  all  who 
study  the  diagrams  given  in  the  third  chapter,  and  the  consequence  was  a  po¬ 
litical  revolution.  For  the  first  time  in  forty  years,  a  president  was  elected 
by  the  people  not  being  of  the  party  generally  known  as  that  of  the  Demo¬ 
crats.  Democracy  had  changed  sides,  and  the  people  did  not  go  with  it. 
The  consequence  of  this  was,  nearly  two  years  later,  a  return  to  the  policy 
of  protection  and  a  restoration  of  prosperity,  and  with  prosperity  the  party 
that  had  so  long  controlled  the  movements  of  the  country  was  again  restored 
to  power.  Unwilling,  however,  to  acknowledge  that  the  revolution  of  1840  had 
been  the  consequence  of  an  error  of  policy,  they  ascribed  it  to  various  minor 
and  insignificant  causes,  and  proceeded  to  the  enaction  of  the  tariff  of  1846, 
and  the  consequence  was  another  revolution  by  which  the  party  of  protec¬ 
tion  was  again  restored  to  power.  Like  the  former,  that  revolution  is  now 
ascribed  to  minor  causes ;  but  those  who  will  study  the  diagrams  to  which 
I  have  above  referred  can  scarcely  fail  to  see  that  it  was  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  party  styled  Democratic  had  espoused  a  course  of  policy  that 
tended  to  diminish  the  value  of  labour,  to  degrade  the.  labourer,  to  de¬ 
press  the  democracy  at  home,  and  to  maintain  the  aristocracy  abroad; 
nor  can  they,  as  I  think,  fail  to  arrive  at  the  belief  that  no  party  .adverse 
to  protection  can  again  hold  power  in  this  country.  Such  being  the 
case,  the  interest  of  both  parties,  if  actuated  solely  by  purely  selfish  consi¬ 
derations,  would  lead  to  the  advocacy  of  the  same  course  of  policy— the  one 
in  power  desiring  that  it  might  not  be  adopted,  and  that  thus  they  might 
profit  by  the  agitation  of  the  question  for  maintaining  themselves  in  autho¬ 
rity,  and  the  one  out  of  power,  that  it  might  be  settled,  and  the  agitation  of 
the  question  brought  to  a  close. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


185 


CONCLUSION. 

Much  is  said  of  u  the  mission”  of  the  people  of  these  United  States,  and 
most  of  it  is  said  by  persons  who  appear  to  limit  themselves  to  the  considera¬ 
tion  of  the  powers  of  the  nation,  and  rarely  to  think  of  its  duties.  By  such 
men  the  grandeur  of  the  national  position  is  held  to  be  greatly  increased  by 
having  expended  sixty  or  eighty  millions  upon  a  war  with  a  weak  neighbour, 
and  having  thus  acquired  the  power  to  purchase,  at  a  high  price,  a  vast  body 
of  wild  land  that  would,  in  the  natural  course  of  events,  have  been  brought 
within  the  Union,  in  reasonable  time,  without  the  cost  of  a  dollar  or  a  life. 
By  such  men,  the  fitting  out  of  expeditions  for  the  purpose  of  producing  civil 
war  among  our  neighbours  of  Cuba,  is  held  to  be  another  evidence  of  gran¬ 
deur.  Others  would  have  us  to  mix  ourselves  up  with  all  the  revolutionists 
of  Europe )  while  a  fourth  and  last  set  sigh  at  the  reflection  that  our  fleets 
and  armies  are  too  small  for  the  magnificence  of  our  position. 

By  some  it  is  supposed  that  our  “  mission”  is  that  of  monopolizing  the 
commerce  of  the  world,  and  the  time  is  anxiously  looked  for  when  we  shall 
have  u  diplomatic  relations”  with  “  vast  regions  of  the  East,”  Persia,  Corea, 
Cochin-China,  Burmah  and  Japan,  with  whom  “  nothing  but  the  steam-ship 
can  successfully  introduce  our  commerce.”  By  “  persevering  and  successful 
efforts,”  it  is  thought  we  may  secure  the  “  commerce  of  Japan.”  That  done, 

“  New  York,”  it  is  thought,  “  would  become  the  depot  and  storehouse  and  entrepots  of  the 
world,  the  centre  of  business  and  exchanges,  the  clearing  house  of  international  trade  and 
business,  the  place  where  assorted  cargoes  of  our  own  products  and  manufactures,  as  well 
as  those  of  all  foreign  countries,  would  be  sold  and  reshipped,  and  the  point  to  which 
specie  and  bullion  would  flow,  as  the  great  creditor  city  of  the  world  for  the  adjustment 
of  balances,  as  the  factor  of  all  nations  and' the  point  whence  this  specie  would  flow  into 
the  interior  of  our  country  through  all  the  great  channels  of  international  trade  and  inter¬ 
course.  With  these  great  events  accomplished,  and  with  abundant  facilities  for  the  ware¬ 
housing  of  foreign  and  domestic  goods  at  New  York,  it  must  eventually  surpass  in  wealth, 
in  commerce,  and  population,  any  European  emporium,  whilst,  as  a  necessary  consequence, 
all  our  other  cities  and  every  portion  of  the  Union  and  all  our  great  interests,  would  de¬ 
rive  corresponding  advantages.” — Treasury  Report ,  December ,  1848. 

The  cost  of  a  mission  to  Japan  would  build  half  a  dozen  furnaces  that 
would  add  more  to  the  wealth  of  the  nation  in  five  years  than  the  commerce 
of  that  country  would  do  in  half  a  century.  The  amount  we  have  expended 
on  the  mission  to  Austria,  in  search  of  a  market  for  tobacco,  would  bring 
here  as  many  Germans  as  would  consume  almost  as  much  of  our  tobacco  as 
is  now  consumed  in  the  empire,  and  those  tobacco  consumers  would  do  more 
for  the  growth  of  New  York  than  either  Japan  or  Austria. 

The  English  doctrine  of  u  ships,  colonies,  and  commerce”  is  thus  reproduced 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  and  its  adoption  by  the  nation  would  be  fol¬ 
lowed  by  effects  similar  to  those  which  have  been  already  described  as  exist¬ 
ing  in  England.  There,  for  a  time,  it  gave  the  power  to  tax  the  world  for  the 
maintenance  of  fleets  and  armies,  as  had  before  been  done  by  Athens  and 
by  Rome,  and  there  it  is  now  producing  the  same  results  that  have  elsewhere 
resulted  from  the  same  system,  poverty,  depopulation,  exhaustion,  and  weak¬ 
ness. 

But  little  study  of  our  history  is  required  to  satisfy  the  inquirer  that  the 
power  of  the  Union,  and  its  magnificent  position  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  are  due  to  the  fact  that  we  have  to  so  great  an  extent  abstained  from 
measures  requiring  the  maintenance  of  fleets  and  armies.  The  consequence 
has  been  that  taxes  have  been  light,  capital  has  accumulated  rapidly,  labour 


186 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


has  been  productive,  and  the  labourer  has  received  wages  that  have  enabled 
him  to  feed,  clothe,  and  educate  his  children,  and  the  nation  has  thus  per¬ 
formed  its  true  u  mission”  in  elevating  the  condition  of  man.  If  we  desire 
to  find  exceptions  to  this,  we  must  look  to  those  periods  in  which  the  policy 
of  Washington,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe,  and  Jackson,  was  departed  from, 
and  when  the  government  adopted  measures  tending  to  the  maintenance 
of  the  English  monopoly  of  machinery,  and  there  we  shall  find  taxes  more 
heavy,  capital  accumulating  more  slowly,  labour  more  unproductive,  and  the 
wages  of  labour  so  much  depressed  that  the  labourer  finds  it  difficult  to  feed 
or  clothe  his  children,  and  still  more  difficult  to  educate  them. 

Two  systems  are  before  the  world ;  the  one  looks  to  increasing  the  propor-, 
tion  of  persons  and  of  capital  engaged  in  trade  and  transportation,  and  therefore 
to  diminishing  the  proportion  engaged  in  producing  commodities  with  which  to 
trade,  with  necessarily  diminished  return  to  the  labour  of  all ;  while  the  other  looks 
to  increasing  the  proportion  engaged  in  the  work  of  production,  and  diminishing 
that  engaged  in  trade  and  transportation,  with  increased  return  to  all,  giving  to 
the  labourer  good  wages,  and  to  the  owner  of  capital  good  profits.  One  looks 
to  increasing  the  quantity  of  raw  materials  to  be  exported,  and  diminishing 
the  inducements  to  the  import  of  men,  thus  impoverishing  both  farmer  and 
planter  by  throwing  on  them  the  burden  of  freight;  while  the  other  looks  to 
increasing  the  import  of  men,  and  diminishing  the  export  of  raw  materials, 
thereby  enriching  both  planter  and  farmer  by  relieving  them  from  the  pay¬ 
ment  of  freight.  One  looks  to  giving  the  products  of  millions  of  acres  of 
land  and  of  the  labour  of  millions  of  men  for  the  services  of  hundred's  of 
thousands  of  distant  men  ;  the  other  to  bringing  the  distant  men  to  consume 
on  the  land  the  products  of  the  land,  exchanging  day’s  labour  for  day’s  la¬ 
bour.  One  looks  to  compelling  the  farmers  and  planters  of  the  Union  to 
continue  their  contributions  for  the  support  of  the  fleets  and  the  armies,  the 
paupers,  the  nobles,  and  the  sovereigns  of  Europe  ;  the  other  to  enabling  our¬ 
selves  to  apply  the  same  means  to  the  moral  and  intellectual  improvement 
of  the  sovereigns  of  America.*  One  looks  to  the  continuance  of  that 
bastard  freedom  of  trade  which  denies  the  principle  of  protection,  yet  doles 
it  out  as  revenue  duties ;  the  other  to  extending  the  area  of  legitimate 
free  trade  by  the  establishment  of  perfect  protection,  followed  by  the 
annexation  of  individuals  and  communities,  and  ultimately  by  the  abo¬ 
lition  of  custom-houses.  One  looks  to  exporting  men  to  occupy  desert 
tracts,  the  sovereignty  of  which  is  obtained  by  aid  of  diplomacy  or  war; 
the  other  to  increasing  the  value  of  an  immense  extent  of  vacant  land  by 
importing  men  by  millions  for  their  occupation.  One  looks  to  the  centrali¬ 
zation  of  wealth  and  power  in  a  great  commercial  city  that  shall  rival  the 
great  cities  of  modern  times,  which  have  been  and  are  being  supported  by  aid 
of  contributions  which  have  exhausted  every  nation  subjected  to  them;  the 
other  to  concentration ,  by  aid  of  which  a  market  shall  be  made  upon  the 
land  for  the  products  of  the  land,  and  the  farmer  and  planter  be  enriched. 
One  looks  to  increasing  the  necessity  for  commerce ;  the  other  to  increasing 
the  power  to  maintain  it.  One  looks  to  underworking  the  Hindoo,  and  sink¬ 
ing  the  rest  of  the  world  to  his  level;  the  other  to  raising  the  standard  of  man 
throughout  the  world  to  our  level.  One  looks  to  pauperism,  ignorance,  de¬ 
population,  and  barbarism ;  the  other  to  increasing  wealth,  comfort,  intelligence, 
combination  of  action,  and  civilization.  One  looks  towards  universal  war ; 
the  other  towards  universal  peace.  One  is  the  English  system ;  the  other  we 


*  Russia  is  now  raising  by  loan  five  millions  of  pounds  sterling  to  pay  the  expenses 
of  the  war  in  Hungary.  The  farmers  and  planters  of  the  Union  are  the  chief  contri¬ 
butors  to  this  loan. 


THE  HARMONY  OF  INTERESTS. 


187 


may  be  proud  to  call  the  American  system,  for  it  is  the  only  one  ever  de¬ 
vised  the  tendency  of  which  was  that  of  elevating  while  equalizing  the 
condition  of  man  throughout  the  world. 

Such  is  the  true  mission  of  the  people  of  these  United  States.  To  them 
has  been  granted  a  privilege  never  before  granted  to  man,  that  of  the  exer¬ 
cise  of  the  right  of  perfect  self-government;  but,  as  rights  and  duties  are 
inseparable,  with  the  grant  of  the  former  came  the  obligation  to  perform  the 
latter.  Happily  their  performance  is  pleasant  and  profitable,  and  involves 
no  sacrifice.  To  raise  the  value  of  labour  throughout  the  world,  we  need 
only  to  raise  the  value  of  our  own.  To  raise  the  value  of  land  throughout 
the  world,  it  is  needed  only  that  we  adopt  measures  that  shall  raise  the  value 
of  our  own.  To  diffuse  intelligence  and  to  promote  the  cause  of  morality 
throughout  the  world,  we  are  required  only  to  pursue  the  course  that  shall 
diffuse  education  throughout  our  OAvn  land,  and  shall  enable  every  man  more 
readily  to  acquire  property,  and  Avith  it  respect  for  the  rights  of  property. 
To  impro\Te  the  political  condition  of  man  throughout  the  world,  it  is  needed 
that  we  ourselves  should  remain  at  peace,  avoid  taxation  for  the  maintenance 
of  fleets  and  armies,  and  become  rich  and  prosperous.  To  raise  the  condition 
of  woman  throughout  the  world,  it  is  required  of  us  only  that  we  pursue 
that  course  that  enables  men  to  remain  at  home  and  marry,  that  they  may 
surround  themselves  with  happy  children  and  grand-children.  To  substitute 
true  Christianity  for  the  detestable  system  known  as  the  Malthusian,  it  is  needed 
that  we  prove  to  the  world  that  it  is  population  that  makes  the  food  come 
from  the  rich  soils,  and  that  food  tends  to  increase  more  rapidly  than  popula¬ 
tion,  thus  vindicating  the  policy  of  God  to  man.  Doing  these  things,  the 
addition  to  our  population  by  immigration  will  speedily  rise  to  millions,  and 
with  each  and  every  year  the  desire  for  that  perfect  freedom  of  trade  which 
results  from  incorporation  within  the  Union,  will  be  seen  to  spread  and  to 
increase  in  its  intensity,  leading  gradually  to  the  establishment  of  an  empire  the 
most  extensive  and  magnificent  the  world  has  yet  seen,  based  upon  the  prin¬ 
ciples  of  maintaining  peace  itself,  and  strong  enough  to  insist  upon  the  mainte¬ 
nance  of  peace  by  others,  yet  carried  on  without  the  aid  of  fleets,  or  armies, 
or  taxes,  the  sales  of  public  lands  alone  sufficing  to  pay  the  expenses  of 
government. 

To  establish  such  an  empire — to  prove  that  among  the  people  of  the 
world,  whether  agriculturists,  manufacturers,  or  merchants,  there  is  perfect 
harmony  of  interests,  and  that  the  happiness  of  individuals,  as  well  as  the 
grandeur  of  nations,  is  to  be  promoted  by  perfect  obedience  to  that  greatest  of 
all  commands,  u  Do  unto  others  as  ye  would  that  others  should  do  unto  you,” 
— is  the  object  and  will  be  the  result  of  that  mission.  Whether  that  result  shall 
be  speedily  attained,  or  whether  it  shall  be  postponed  to  a  distant  period, 
will  depend  greatly  upon  the  men  avIio  are  charged  with  the  performance  of 
the  duties  of  government.  If  their  movements  be  governed  by  that  enlight¬ 
ened  self-interest  which  induces  man  to  seek  his  happiness  in  the  promotion 
of  that  of  his  fellow-man,  it  will  come  soon.  If,  on  the  contrary,  they  be 
governed  by  that  ignorant  selfishness  which  leads  to  the  belief  that  indivi¬ 
duals,  party,  or  national  interests,  are  to  be  promoted  by  measures  tending 
to  the  deterioration  of  the  condition  of  others,  it  will  be  late. 


the  end. 


" 


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Date  Due 


OCT  lj 

1959 

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